Sometimes lucky! I’ve been researching Royal Navy sources for a document on lime manufacture, circa 1700. During that search, found Clive Wilkinson’s tour de force – a finding aid to British logbooks from the 18th C to WWII – prepared to assist development of world databases (databasi?) on climate change.
These are Royal Navy and quasi-marine navies (Hudson’s Bay Company, East India Company, etc) logbooks. Every type is listed here, and their method of binding, ink quality, and the like. Fleet disposition is also described, and location among several archives, also.
A wonderful source of information. All neatly bound up as a Log of Logs for all of us.
BRITISH LOGBOOKS IN UK ARCHIVES – 18th century to WWII
A survey of the range, selection and suitability of British log books for climatic research
Wilkinson, Clive. Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ United Kingdom, 2006. http://icoads.noaa.gov/reclaim/pdf/British_logbooks_v3.pdf
CLIWOC (Climatological Database for the World’s Oceans), circa 1750 to 1850
Using data from Spanish, Dutch and French logbooks, and ~5% of British logbooks.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10584-005-6952-6
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225810682_CLIWOC_a_climatological_database_for_the_World%27s_Oceans_1750-1854
Image: Wellcome Library, London, UK. Wellcome Images images@wellcome.ac.uk http://wellcomeimages.org Astronomy: a quadrant and a sextant. Engraving. Published: –
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