The papers consist of three large albums of newspaper cuttings which relate to the Navy and to ship design and were collected by Coles himself between 1862 and his death. There are a number of later cuttings to 1878.

Administrative / biographical background
Coles entered the Navy in 1838 and was promoted to lieutenant in 1846. He served in the Mediterranean and was made a commander in 1854 and a captain in 1856. His experiences in the Crimean War led him to experiment with defensive armour and turrets for ships, which he developed often at his own expense. HMS CAPTAIN, launched in 1869, was a low feeboard turret vessel built to Coles's design against the views of the Surveyor of the Navy. On trials, the CAPTAIN capsized off Cape Finisterre in 1870, drowning her designer and almost 500 other officers and crew.