Library & Archive blog

The societal fascination with sensational malefactors has a long history, evidence of which can be found within the Caird Library's rare book collection

How did naval victory and urban entertainment come together in this mid-eighteenth century painting?

An interesting item from MSS/84/047, a midshipman's journal kept by Lieutenant Peter Reginald George Worth DSC, RN, from his time aboard HMS Hood, prior to the outbreak of war in 1939.

Here in the Caird Library and Archive we are often asked about Royal Naval records relating either to specific individuals, events or ships. Most of the surviving records generated by the Navy during its long history are held by the National Archives at Kew. One set of records we hold on deposit here at Greenwich however are logs written by Royal Naval Lieutenants during the period of 1673-1809.

“If, by repeated efforts, you find the index [of the theodolite] will not return to zero after taking a round of angles…unscrew the instrument from its tripod and replace it in the box, close the lid firmly, then gently roll the box one hundred yards or so down the hill side…”  

JOD/332 is a log kept by Captain Stanley Algar while a Prisoner of War at the Milag Nord camp near Bremen. However, the diary is not all it seems, while I was expecting to read Stanley Algar’s story of his capture and the gruelling day to day life in the camp, what it contained was quite different.

With 2019 marking the 150th birthday of the Cutty Sark, discover the story behind one of its ancestors. What part did The Tweed, an illustrious vessel in its own right, play in the Cutty Sark becoming the fastest ship of her time?