The collection contains two logs, 1893 to 1897, an order book, 1914, and charts and photographs. There are also many semi-official letters received, 1896 to 1947, in particular from Admirals of the Fleet Viscount Cunningham (q.v.) and Sir Roger Keyes (1872-1945). There are also Cowan's letters to Admiral Sir Rudolph Bentinck (1869-1947), which were returned to Cowan; they are of a private rather than of an official nature. There are, however, some official papers relating to the Baltic campaign and a draft autobiography.

Administrative / biographical background
Cowan entered HMS BRITANNIA as a naval cadet in 1884. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1892 and commanded HMS REDBREAST between 1893 and 1895 in the Red Sea. In 1895 he was appointed to HMS BARROSA on the Cape station. He saw active service during the Brass River and Benin expeditions in 1897 and in 1898 commanded the gunboat flotilla on the Nile during the operations in the Sudan. Cowan was promoted to commander in 1901 and to captain in 1906. After almost two years in the post of assistant to the admiral of patrols, Cowan was sent in 1914 to HMS ZEALANDIA in the Grand Fleet. He joined HMS PRINCESS ROYAL in 1915 and in her was present at the Battle of Jutland in 1916. He was appointed commodore commanding the First Light Cruiser Squadron in the Grand Fleet in 1917 and reappointed after his promotion to rear-admiral in 1918. He continued to command it as well as the naval force in the Baltic during the anti-Bolshevik operations in 1920, for which he became well-known. In 1921 he took command of the Baltic Cruiser Squadron. After a year as commanding officer on the coast of Scotland, Cowan became, in 1926, Commander-in-Chief, North America and West Indies, and it was during his two years there that his station was extended to include South America. Cowan was promoted to admiral in 1927, was appointed first and principal aide-de-camp to the King in 1929 and retired in 1930. At the age of sixty-eight, he persuaded the Admiralty to employ him for the duration of the war in the rank of commander. He served as liaison officer with a commando brigade in the eastern Mediterranean during 1941 and was then attached to an Indian regiment in the Western Desert. He was captured at Bir Hakeim in 1942 and repatriated the following year. After further active service he retired in 1945. See 'Sound of the Guns' by Lionel Dawson, Oxford, 1949; and 'Cowan's War' by Geoffrey Bennett, London, 1964.