The collection falls into two parts; papers relating to the dockyards and those salvaged from the German battleship BADEN after she was beached in 1919. The former comprise a page from a Progress of Works register kept in Chatham dockyard, 1734; a 'Scheme of Prices for Performing Shipwrights Work by Job', 1815; a 'Scheme of Prices for Performing Shipwrights Work', 1857; two notebooks with engineering diagrams and drawings kept by students at Portsmouth engineering school, 1883, 1886. The BADEN documents consist of eleven items and include a folder containing papers and letters relating to the fitting out of the ship at Danzig, 1916; a Chief Engineer's order book, 1916 to 1918, and three copies of German newspapers, 1919.

Administrative / biographical background
The Gillingham Museum was closed in 1957 and manuscripts relating to maritime affairs were transferred to NMM in 1958.