There is a 'Journal kept in passing through the different offices of HM Dockyard, Deptford, 1820', papers relating to the excavation of an ancient vessel found in the River Rother in Kent, in 1822; a log and a diary of Rice's voyage to South America and papers on the Terror. There are also service papers, some correspondence, including several letters from Admiral Sir Thomas Byam Martin (1773-1854), and a sketchbook. Three older documents, presumably collected by Rice, also form part of the collection, as do the service papers of Charles Brown, Master, R.N., 1815 to 1850.

Administrative / biographical background
Rice was born in 1796 and entered the School of Naval Architecture in 1813. He held appointments in various dockyards between 1819 and 1822, when he became draughtsman to Sir Robert Seppings (1767-1840). In 1824 he sailed to South America to assist in repairing the Spartiate. From 1825 to 1844 he was Foreman of Portsmouth Dockyard. In 1837 he went to Lough Swilly to refloat the Terror, Captain George Back (1796-1878), which had returned from the Arctic badly damaged by the ice. He was promoted to Assistant Master Shipwright in 1844 and in 1852 was appointed Master Shipwright at Pembroke Dockyard but held office for less than a year. Rice died at Hastings in 1868 and was buried in the parish of St Clement, Halton.