The earliest item in this category is an account of the capture of Cadiz, 1596, with a list of ships taken and burnt. There are four documents relating to the seventeenth century, including a short report to the King of the Four Days Battle, June 1666, signed by Prince Rupert (1619-1682) and the Duke of Albemarle (1608-1670). Among the seventeen eighteenth-century documents are an extract from the journal of Sir Charles Wager (1666-1743), May to July 1708, relating to the battle of Cartagena and the subsequent courts martial of two of his subordinates; a report of the battle of Minorca, 1756, criticizing the conduct of Admiral John Byng; an account of the battle of Quiberon Bay, 1759, with a list of the French fleet; an account of the proceedings of the MONMOUTH, May 1759 to June 1760, during the blockade of Brest; and a journal of the mutiny at the Nore, 1797, probably kept by an aide-de-camp to Sir Charles Grey (1729-1807). The fourteen nineteenth-century documents include a description of the events of the war between Denmark and England, 1801; an account of an attack on and destruction of a French convoy off Toulon and in the Bay of Rosas, 1809, written by an unnamed officer of the LEVIATHAN; and the last record of the expedition in search of the North-West Passage led by Sir John Franklin (q.v.) in the EREBUS and TERROR. It was deposited by Lieutenant Graham M Gore (d.1847?) on King William Island, 28 May 1847, and added to by Captain Francis R M Crozier (1796?-1848) and Captain James Fitzjames (1813-1848) after abandoning their ships, 26 April 1848, recording the death of Franklin and other members of the expedition. In April 1859 it was found by Lieutenant William Hobson (1831-1880) of the FOX. Among the six items relating to the twentieth century are a typescript report, in English, of the actions between the Russians and Japanese at Chemulpo and Port Arthur, February 1904; and an account of the battle of Jutland, 1916.

Administrative / biographical background
Narratives - documents