Leather bound logbook kept by Philip Hedger as a midshipman on the ROBERT SMALL (1835), commanded by William Fulcher and owned by Smith & Co, Newcastle. It covers a voyage from London to Calcutta and the return voyage to the English Channel between 26 July 1837 and 5 June 1838. Crew and passenger lists, dimensions of masts and yards, illustrations of signal flags, and track charts showing the Cape of Good Hope and Bay of Bengal are included.

Administrative / biographical background
Hedger was the second son of Francis Hedger, a commander in the marine service of the East India Company. He was born at Coulsdon, Surrey, in 1820, and went to sea as an apprentice in 1834. On the recommendation of Isambard K. Brunel, he became chief officer on the Great Western Steamship Co passenger liner GREAT BRITAIN (1845). He then turned his interest to railways, becoming a superintendent in the Great Western Railway goods department. Later he was Superintendent and Dock Master at Southampton Docks. He died at Surbiton in 1906. Hedger was elected an associate of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1855 and an obituary appears in Volume 167 of 'Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers'.