The most significant part of the collection is a series of letters between Captain Woolnough and his wife Sarah (WOO/1), which illustrate the challenges of communication and maintaining a relationship when a sailor was away at sea. The subject of his correspondence varies – from news of home and friends, to descriptions of life and work aboard ship. Woolnough seems to have been aware that this was a dangerous posting – there is much talk in his letters about their long separation, how sickly the country is, and the deaths of his crew members. His concerns also encompass not hearing from home, the health of his children, and the vagaries of life at sea. There is also a letter to his widow relating to the sale of his ship after his death (WOO/2) and a set of letters and papers belonging to his widow Sarah and their daughter Sarah Ann (WOO/3), mainly comprising letters to Sarah’s family, particularly her sisters Ann (or Nancy) Moor, Elizabeth Clements, Charlotte Montgomery and Mary Ann White, but also poems and papers relating to Sarah Ann’s marriage.

Administrative / biographical background
In 1794 Captain Quintin Woolnough was employed on the merchant ship WILDMAN which, according to Lloyd’s Register, was sailing between London and Jamaica at this date. Woolnough then captained the BOYTON between London, the West Indies and Canada. The BOYTON was a victualler which transported supplies to the Royal Navy in support of its operations against the remaining French and Spanish colonies in the West Indies. Woolnough undertook at least two voyages to Martinique as a victualler, but died at some point in 1798/9. He continues to appear in Lloyd’s Register as the owner of the BOYTON until 1801 when the new owner, W. Welch, replaces him. Quintin married his wife Sarah (or Sally) Clements at some point in 1795/6. Their daughter Sarah Ann (whom he nicknames Quentina) was probably born at the end of 1796, and married Robert Clarke in 1822. A second pregnancy is mentioned in letters in 1797.