A List of His Majesty’s Royal Navy. Navy Office, 1st October 1794.

A$7,500 · Offered by Douglas Stewart Fine Books

Large octavo (230 x 150 mm), in the original Admiralty-style binding of straight-grain red morocco with elaborate gilt border incorporating stars, wreaths and cornerpieces, spine gilt in six compartments; inner dentelles; all edges gilt; original marbled endpapers; engraved title-page with date in manuscript 1st October 1794 (although the list has additions to 1801); 200 pp., each with an identical engraved heading, with manuscript entries in black and red ink below, set out in tabular form within red-ruled lines; mostly written in one hand, with occasional alterations or additions in a second; remarkably fresh throughout. A record of the ships in Nelson’s Royal Navy from 1794-1801 with a distinguished Royal provenance, being a manuscript copy prepared for Ernst Augustus, Duke of Cumberland and King of Hanover (1771-1851), fifth son of George III. The register classifies ships by rating; within each rating, vessels are arranged alphabetically. The entries include dimensions, date built, draught, complement of men, armaments, shipwright or origin (e.g. Taken from the French ; Taken from the Dutch ), and, occasionally, fate (e.g. Lost 1790 ; Taken 1801 ). The might of the Royal Navy in the early stages of the long wars with France is demonstrated statistically by the sheer number of vessels that are indicated as having been captured from the French. The presence (or, indeed, absence) of the following vessels in the register is of specific Australian interest: the First Fleet st

• Binding: Hardcover

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