The collection consists of copies of papers on salvage operations and maritime history, reflecting both Fletcher’s professional work and his academic interests.

Administrative / biographical background
Fletcher was born in Marylebone, Middlesex, in 1846. He worked as a civil engineer and later specialized in marine surveying and salvage. His business was located at Botolph House, Eastcheap, London. During the 1890s, he had a leading role in the syndicate of engineers contracted by Lloyd’s of London to recover a cargo of bullion from the wreck of the frigate HMS LUTINE (taken 1793). The ship was lost on a sandbank between the Dutch islands of Vlieland and Terschelling in 1799.