Midshipman's journal kept by Houston Stewart as a midshipman on the wooden screw frigate HMS ARIADNE (1859) at Portsmouth, the armoured frigate HMS MINOTAUR (1863) in the Channel Squadron, and the wooden-hulled screw frigate HMS NARCISSUS (1859) in the West Indies, 1871-1873.

Administrative / biographical background
Houston Stewart was the eldest son of Admiral Sir William Houston Stewart (1822-1901). He was born in London in 1853 and entered the Navy as a naval cadet on HMS BRITANNIA in 1867. He became a midshipman in 1868 and passed for lieutenant in 1876. Between 1880 and 1883 he was first lieutenant on the screw sloop HMS FANTOME (1873) on the North America and West India stations. He then trained to be a gunnery officer on HMS CAMBRIDGE (1858) at Devonport before being appointed to the screw sloop HMS DRYAD (1866). At Saukin he went ashore with the Naval Brigade attached to the expeditionary force for the relief of Tokar from the Mahdist Sudanese army. He commanded the right-half battery during the battle at El Teb and was killed in the subsequent action at Tamanieh on 13 March 1884. His service record can be found under the references ADM 196/19/23 and ADM 196/39/466 at The National Archives.