British Records: Admiralty

Contained in the British Records: Admiralty Finding Aid are the following series:

Secretary's Department, In-Letters (copies)

This large series consists of a number of sub-series, and those from which copies were made are described below: letters from admirals, captains, secretaries of state, and various departments of government to the Board of Admiralty; reports of courts martial; letters concerning the colonies; etc. Subjects relating to North Carolina include pirates; privateers; illicit trade; vessels on North Carolina station; the Cartagena expedition; merchant vessels in distress from hurricanes or enemy action; convoys (with lists of merchant vessels convoyed); admiralty courts; defense of the colonies; the Stamp Act crisis; Sir Peter Parker's expedition (1776); the capture of Wilmington (1781); prizes taken; prisoners; intelligence reports; Loyalists; and action at Ocracoke in 1813.

Secretary's Department, Out-Letters (copies)

This series is composed of various sub-series of entry-book copies of letters, orders, and instructions from the Board of Admiralty and its secretary to admirals and captains, and letters from the same to various departments of government and private individuals, such as merchants. Subjects relating to North Carolina include impressment in America; protections from impressment and permissions to proceed given to merchant vessels; convoys for trade; naval stores; ordnance; colors to be worn by vessels; mail packets; pirates; foreign privateers; illicit trade; vice admiralty courts; courts martial; deserters; defense of colonies; vessels on North Carolina station--their deployment, upkeep, and provisioning--; prizes taken; Indians to be conveyed to England and back; care of sick and wounded seamen; seamen's wages and Greenwich Hospital tax; coastal surveys; the Cartagena expedition; the Stamp Act crisis; Sir Peter Parker's expedition (1776); troop transports; and American prisoners.

Secretary's Department, Miscellanea (copies and film)

This series contains various registers, lists, reports, memorials, petitions, returns, etc.

Secretary's Department. List Books (copies)

This series is made up of monthly returns showing the station assignments of all naval vessels in commission. (Volumes 1 to 5 in this series were examined in order to compile a list of vessels of possible relevance to North Carolina, but only one monthly return was copied, to illustrate the form of the entries.)

Indexes and Compilations (copies)

Accountant General's Department: Ships' Pay Books. Series I (copies)

This series consists of various details concerning the manning of vessels of the Royal Navy. Data include names of crew, date and place of entry and discharge, whether volunteer or impressed, wages due, etc. Pay books for selected vessels on the North Carolina station were copied.

Accountant General's Department: Ships' Pay Books. Series II (copies)

Accounting Departments: Ships' Musters (copies)

This series is similar to Admiralty 33 and 34 above, but includes more vessels than either. In addition to information concerning the crew and marines, there are entries relating to various persons, such as governors and their retinues, given passage to North Carolina; civilian workmen employed in repairing and refitting the vessel; pilots taken on and discharged at North Carolina; Loyalist refugees taken aboard for protection or passage out of the colony; and American prisoners taken during the Revolutionary War.

Accountant General's Department: Miscellanea, Documents Relating to Expenses in America and West Indies (copies)

Accountant General's Department: Miscellanea, Musters of Transports (copies)

Accountant General, Various. Papers Relating to American Loyalists Put on Board Transports (copies)

Accountant General's Department, Miscellanea, Register of Transports (copies)

Admiralty and Secretariat: Admirals' Journals (copies)

This series consists of entry books of administrative proceedings of the admirals commanding in North America: orders to captains of vessels; general orders; appointments; commissions; correspondence. Subjects include provisioning, manning, trade, the Stamp Act, movements of vessels, and smuggling.

Admiralty and Secretariat: Log Books, Etc. Captains’ Logs (copies)

This series consists entirely of log books kept by captains of naval vessels, both at sea and in port. Information includes details on weather, manning, shipboard discipline, provisioning, trade, repair and refitting, entertainment of guests, battles.

Admiralty and Secretariat: Log Books, Etc. Masters’ Logs (copies)

This class consists of log books kept by masters of naval vessels, both at sea and in port. Information duplicates much of that in Admiralty 51, above, but often includes more in navigational details.

Greenwich Hospital: Accounts, Various, Annual Accounts of the Receiver of Sixpences (microfilm and copies)

(89-143) Receiver of Sixpences: Annual Account, 1732-1783. A seamen's hospital was established at Greenwich, England in 1694. In order to support this enterprise, sixpence a month was deducted from every seaman's wages, both in Britain and the colonies. This series comprises the annual accounts of the Receiver of Sixpences, and includes the amounts received from various ports in North Carolina. (194-204) Names of Ships and Amounts Paid for Sixpences, 1725-1784. These volumes are lists of merchant vessels trading at the port of London. Information given includes name of last port, date of arrival, name of vessel, of what place, tonnage, size of crew, name of master, number of months' service per man.

Greenwich Hospital. Miscellanea, Various (microfilm)

Medical Department: Out-Letters, to the Admiralty (copies)

Navy Board (microfilm and copies)

This diverse series contains the records of the Navy Board, the agency chiefly responsible for the civil administration of the Navy--hiring of transports, provisioning and the like. Subjects relating to North Carolina include transports; naval stores and timber; piracy; provisioning, equipping and manning of vessels; and trade.

Victualling Department, Out-Letters