This Ships' Cover incorporates four different Ships' Cover volumes into one:

ADM/SC/56 - Ship Cover for the Medina class twin screw iron coastal gunboats, covering a period from the initial design planning in 1875 to the decommissioning or reallocation to other duties of these vessels in 1904. While parts of the documentation relate to the class as a whole, others relate to the following members of this group: HMS Dee (1877); HMS Don (1877); HMS Medina (1876); HMS Medway (1876); HMS Sabrina (1876); HMS Spey (1876); HMS Tay (1876); HMS Tees (1876); and HMS Tweed (1877).

ADM/SC/57 - Ship cover for the following ships: Magicienne class paddle frigate HMS Valorous (1851). The documentation mainly relates to issues of stability, armament and assigned complement, including the vessel's role as a supply ship for the Nares Arctic Expedition. The date range of the documents is February 1875 to October 1882. Papers for the paddle gunvessels HMS Harpy (1845) and HMS Jackall [Jackal] (1844) relate primarily to allocated stores and armament between July 1876 and September 1877. For the purchased Admiralty yachts HMS Firequeen [ex-Fire Queen] (1844) and HMS Firequeen [ex-Candace] (1881), the documentation relates almost entirely to vessel stability. The date ranges are December 1881 for the older Firequeen and July 1883 to January 1905 for the newer ship. The special service composite paddle steamer HMS Sphinx (1882) claims a very large share of the documentation, mainly on account of the length of her career and numerous refits carried out. The documents include papers on the initial design requirements, specifications, stability calculations, armament, machinery, stores, assigned complement and trials reports. The alterations made to her weaponry, ammunition storage, re-boilering and the fitting of wireless communications gear are also covered. The date range of the papers is from the initial design phase in January 1881 to April 1910.

ADM/SC/58 - Ship Cover for the sail training brigs, particularly HMS Seaflower (1873), HMS Liberty (1850), HMS Martin [ex-Mayflower] (1890), HMS Nautilus (1879) and HMS Sealark (1843). The documentation mainly relates to vessel stability, and this is common to all the vessels listed. The majority of the papers relate to the brigs derived from the Acorn class [ie Seaflower, Nautilus and Martin], but the initial design, fitting and equipment allocation documents primarily focus on Seaflower. Other documents relating specifically to stores, masting and sail arrangements relate to the Liberty, with more on fittings for the Sealark. The date range of the documents is quite varied, those for Seaflower covering the period January 1872 to June 1877; Nautilus from April 1879 to May 1880; Liberty from April 1872 to July 1886; Martin from December 1880 to May 1890; and Sealark from November 1880 to February 1881.

ADM/SC/59 - Ship Cover for the torpedo mooring steamers TMS 1 (1877), TMS 2 (1877), TMS 3 (1877), TMS 4 (1878), TMS 5 (1878) and TMS 6 (1878). The documentation mainly comprises general correspondence between the Admiralty, the War Office and the building firms, and relates to hull strength, alterations to the basic design, assigned complement, machinery and vessel weights. The period covered by the papers ranges from the planning stages in April 1876 to July 1881 - just after the redesignation of the vessels as 'Miner' from 'TMS'.