Navy--Thomas Cochrane | List of the Royal Navy, manuscript, 1814-20, in red morocco, Admiral Cochrane's copy

Royal Navy—Admiral Sir Thomas Cochrane

Index of the Navy

Listing naval vessels by type, with details of each vessel including number and dispersal of guns, date and place built, commencing with ships of the line arranged by rating (1st to 6th rate), followed by sloops (arranged by their rigging), yachts, "Ships & vessels on the Lakes in America", "arm'd Brigs", brigs, bomb vessels, fire ships, store ships, "Arm'd Vessels", tenders, cutters, schooners, luggers, hospital ships, prison ships, gunbrigs, troops ships, signal vessels, "Hoys, Transports, Lighters, &c" at different ports, "receiving Ships", powder ships, and hulks, many entries with revisions with successive updatings of the list, revisions in several hands and inks, foliated, 275 numbered leaves, thumb index (23 pages plus blanks), note on front free endpapers ("Comm[ande]r Shields Corrected to 23 Aug 1814, 1 Sept 1815, & July 1820"), folio (265 x 185mm), contemporary red morocco gilt, lettered on spine ("LIST of the NAVY"), some marks and rubbing to binding

This detailed list of vessels includes such information as the length of the gun deck, the size of the hold, the dispersal of guns across the decks and the ship's origin. It was first written in about 1814 and was regularly updated until 1820, providing a detailed picture of the Royal Navy at the time of Waterloo and the years that followed.

Sir Thomas John Cochrane (1789-1872) was the scion of a great naval family. He saw action as an eleven-year old midshipman on HMS Ajax, and by 1805 he was a lieutenant serving in the Caribbean. His father, Sir Alexander Cochrane, was Commander in Chief of the Leeward Islands at the time and Cochrane soon had his own ship. He took part in a number of successful actions, including the capture of the Virgin Islands and of Martinique. Cochrane went on to serve in the North American Station during the War of 1812 and took part in the burning of Washington in 1814. In 1825 he became the first governor of Newfoundland.

PROVENANCE:

Admiral Sir Thomas Cochrane, G.C.B. (1789-1872), Governor of Newfoundland from 1825 to 1834, armorial bookplate; Robert J. Hayhurst, 1929-2016, bookplate