The papers consist of journals kept during Sisson's seagoing appointments between 1861 and 1876, letters to his father 1860 to 1883, plus other family letters. There is also a diary kept while at school in Switzerland, a pocket book, a sketchbook, an album of drawings, some photographs, and biographical material.

Administrative / biographical background
Sisson was born in Norfolk, the only son of the Rev. Joseph Lawson Sisson. He attended school in Switzerland after his family had moved there. He entered the Navy in 1860 as a cadet in HMS BRITANNIA and first went to sea as a midshipman in HMS NEPTUNE on the Mediterranean station. He was then in HMS EDGAR in home waters, 1863 to 1866. He was a sub-lieutenant on HMS DORIS on the North America and West Indies station from 1866 to 1869, then an acting-lieutenant in HMS PETEREL on the Pacific station from 1872 to 1876. After a spell as a lieutenant in HMS MALABAR in 1878, he commanded the composite screw gunboat HMS FIREBRAND at the Cape of Good Hope at the time of the Anglo-Zulu War. Sisson retired with the rank of commander in 1883. He was appointed a port captain by the Natal Harbour Board, but he died at Durban soon afterwards.