Research Note

Research using the British National Archives

Brian Taylor

Someone asked how to locate "specific logs for ships in the Royal Navy between 1799 and 1815".

The National Archives (Public Record Office, or PRO) at Kew hold Royal Navy "Log Books and Reports of Proceedings". You can see the description of what is covered under this heading at The PRO's website.

At first, I found it difficult to find out how to use the actual online catalogue to search for documents on 'my' ship. This was my fault, really, and some Email exchanges with the PRO's helpful staff got me moving. They gave me the following instructions.

Go first to the site http://catalogue.pro.gov.uk/. This will give access to the online catalogue.

  1. Click on SEARCH.
  2. In the search-boxes that come up, type in the ship's name (Box 1), then type in a range of years of interest (Box 2), then enter ADM in Box 3, which will focus the search on Admiralty records.
    Sample Search
  3. Click on SEARCH, and the process should then list all the log books for the ship over the years identified, if they have survived. Log Books appear to be listed under the identifier "ADM 53/ sequence number, then ship's name and log book date span".
    Sample Result (partial)
As you will see from the Leaflets, log books might not contain much more than sparse navigational and event entries. 'Reports of Proceedings' were designed to be more informative, being summaries of activities sent by the ship's Captain to the Admiralty. The Leaflet describes the process for finding these, but warns that the process can be complicated. I second that! During a personal visit to the PRO, I ran out of time trying to unravel the tangle for 'my' ship. I hasten to add that someone with more competence or experience might have done better. For me, one day's visit was enough only to read and take notes from four or five log books and make a little progress at the other records.

Another warning: unless you are carelessly rich, the PRO's copying costs are very steep indeed. Prior to my visit, I had asked for a cost estimate to copy four log books, each covering one year's operations, on to CD's, and was quoted over twelve thousand UKP (12000£). Needless to say, I declined the offer.
{Brian Taylor}

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