The collection mainly consists of logs, 1868 to 1873; fishery reports, Newfoundland, 1892 to 1895; official memoranda, orders and letters, 1888 to 1890, and 1903 to 1910; and notes on fleet manoeuvres, exercises and signalling, 1897-1910.

Administrative / biographical background
Curzon-Howe entered the Navy in 1863. From 1868 to 1871 he went round the world in the frigate HMS GALATEA. He was made lieutenant in 1872 while serving in HMS HERCULES. It was not until 1888 that he was on active service again, when he was promoted to captain and appointed to HMS BOADICEA, which became the flagship of Rear-Admiral Sir Edmund R. Fremantle on the East Indies station. As flag-captain and chief of staff, Curzon-Howe took part in the operations against the Sultanate of Vitu. In HMS CLEOPATRA, in 1892, he spent a period as senior officer in Newfoundland, reporting on the fishing question. In 1894 he was called south to Bluefields to protect the indigenous people of the Mosquito Coast, whose reservation had been annexed by the Nicaraguans. He subsequently returned to Newfoundland and remained there until 1895, when he went to the Mediterranean in HMS REVENGE, staying on that station until 1900. In 1901 he was promoted to rear-admiral and became second-in-command of the Channel Fleet in HMS MAGNIFICENT until, in 1903, he went out to the East in HMS ALBION to become second-in-command of the China Fleet. Curzon-Howe returned to the Channel in 1905 and in 1907 was given command of the Atlantic Fleet. From 1908 to 1910 he was commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean, and then commander-in-chief at Portsmouth, until his death.