File of correspondence and printed instructions received by Lieutenant Cyril Corbet during operations to observe the transit of Venus on 8 December 1874. The earliest papers date from July 1873 and concern the recruitment and training of candidates in the use of instruments at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich. Letters from Captain G.L. Tupman, Sir G.B. Airy and others provide details of arrangements for the transport of Royal Navy and Royal Engineers personnel to the Cape of Good Hope and then to Port Palliser in the Kerguelen Islands. Some papers concerning the receipt of signals from the observation station and Corbet's expenditure are included.