Series 50. Logbooks: British Navy (1758-1933; bulk, 1807-1837)
Scope and Content
The series consists of 13 volumes of original and transcribed logbooks from British naval vessels. Except for the Duke of Cumberland, Defiance, and Patuxent River documents (Volumes 1, 2, 12), the logbooks appear to have been cut from previously sewn or bound volumes before being rehoused as unbound sheets in buckram boxes. Many are missing up to 1 inch of what would have been their left-hand margins and some include duplicate chronological sections.
Duke of Cumberland was a privately owned New York vessel licensed to the British navy (a so-called privateer) to capture and confiscate French merchant ships during the 7 Years' War (1756-1763). The log documents two West Indian cruises including the capture of Dolphin, Eagle, and Grand Joseph in February, 1759.
The Patuxent River logs are transcripts from the records of HMS Tonnant, HMS Loire, HMS Jaseur, HMS Severn, HMS St. Lawrence, HMS Royal Oak, HMS Hebrus, and HMS Dragon as they confronted American gunboats on the approach to Washington City between June and September of 1814.
The HMS Barfleur and HMS London transcripts document involvement in the Battle of the Chesapeake, in which the former was the flagship of Samuel Hood and the latter of Hood's superior, Sir Thomas Graves. The battle was lost to the French under the command of Admiral de Grasse (see Series 18), which had a significant effect on the outcome of the American war.
The remaining logs document routine cruises, including HMS Poictiers in British waters and the West Indies; Beagle while sailing for the Bay of Biscay to join the Duke of Wellington's forces against Napoleon; and Cressy off the north coast of Europe, in English waters, and the West Indies.