The collection consists of private diaries, 1839 to 1855, and an orderbook for HMS VERNON and CALLIOPE, 1847 to 1853.

Administrative / biographical background
Fitzgerald was born at Stoke Damerel, Devon, in 1803. He was one of the sons of Thomas Fitzgerald (c.1772-1844), a purser in the Royal Navy, and secretary to Sir Edward Pellew, later Lord Exmouth, while he was in command of a squadron blockading French warships at Ferrol. Fitzgerald entered the Navy in 1818 as a first class volunteer on HMS IMPREGNABLE (1810), bearing the flag at Plymouth of Lord Exmouth. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1823. In 1839 he was appointed to HMS MAGNIFICENT (1806), flagship of Commodore Peter John Douglas at Jamaica, and in 1841 placed in command of the sloop HMS RACER (1830), on the North America and West Indies station. He was promoted to the rank of captain in 1841 and in the following year sent on a mission to Guatemala by Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Adam. In 1844 Fitzgerald married Mary Davey Symonds, eldest daughter of John Symonds of Stratton House, Falmouth. In 1845 he was appointed to command the frigate HMS VERNON (1832), flagship of Rear-Admiral Samuel H. Inglefield, initially on the south east coast of America. On the death of Inglefield in 1848 he was for a time senior officer on the East Indies and China station, arriving home in the autumn of that year. In 1853 he was appointed to command of HMS WINCHESTER (1822), flagship of Sir Fleetwood Pellew in the East Indies. For reasons of health Fitzgerald was in the following year transferred to HMS CALLIOPE (1837) on the Australia station, and brought her home in 1855. He was appointed superintendent of Sheerness Dockyard in 1857 and died at Sheerness in 1859.