The Naval Miscellany

This Miscellany contains several documents that were in private ownership and range from 1656 to 1815 and are mainly related to naval operations.

There are documents relating to the raid on the Dutch coast in 1666 and letters from Blake to Montague on operational matters in 1756; a discussion on whether to prosecute the likely war in 1738 on land, with alliances, or by sea, without them; the action of HMS Lyon which effectively prevented munitions from reaching Bonnie Prince Charlie in Scotland; letters written by Benjamin Thompson that criticise Keppel at Ushant; two accounts of the action between HMS Brunswick and Le Vengeur in 1794.

There are the Board of Admiralty instructions to Captain Cook for his three voyages between 1768 and 1777; letters from Nelson written between 1804 and 1805; the journal of a surgeon at the Bombardment of Copenhagen in 1807 giving a valuable account of shipboard life and naval discipline; an account of the Capture of the Cape of Good Hope in 1806; and finally the history and legality of the Salute of the Narrow Seas and the Vienna Conference of 1815.