The collection includes logs of East India Company vessels, 1791 to 1794 and 1804 to 1815, signal books, letters, memoranda, regulations, accounts, and a sheet providing some details of Upton's career at sea. The log UPN/51 relates to William Upton (born 1778).

Administrative / biographical background
Upton was born at Colworth in Sussex in 1769. He entered the East India Company's service in 1788 and was a midshipman in the ROCKINGHAM for two voyages to China. He was in the GENERAL GODDARD as fourth officer on a voyage to Madras and Bengal from 1793 to 1794 and remained in her as part of the Cape Expedition of 1795. Nine Dutch Indiamen were captured during this cruise and Upton was detached in one of them as prize master. He went to China in the TRUE BRITON in 1804 and to Bengal in the WINDHAM in 1809, from which ship he was captured. However, after the taking of the Ile de France (Mauritius), Upton joined the CEYLON, 1810, and brought her home. His next voyage was to China, 1814, as chief mate in the GLATTON; upon her arrival at St Helena her captain died and Upton was sworn in to command. Nothing further is known about Upton's seagoing career. Research suggests that he was later the owner of Marsh Farm at Binsted, near Arundel, and died there in 1850.