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28 NAVY NEWS, OCTOBER 2009
Archive informs Navy
of tomorrow
WHAT would you look for among the books of a good library?
Good stories, naturally. Exotic locations. Books that educate without
preaching, maybe.
Stirring history might be another attraction, with strong characters – bold
(and sometimes flawed) heroes,
a century after Finlaison in the
● Fanciful exotic wildlife in the
brooding or misguided villains – shape of William Perrin, who
seas off Iceland – a direct copy of s
and breath-taking illustrations. created the classification scheme Mercator’M s illustrative monsters as
The Admiralty Library, which which is still used today and seen in Jaillot’s s atlas
celebrates its 200th anniversary this
who later wrote an authoritative
year, can boast all that, and much
history of British flags at sea. ● (Left) Henry West’s signal book
more besides.
“The Admiralty Library from Trafalgar
It not only refers back – and some of
has always been a working
–– as well as senior Naval officers –
its collection are of colossal historical
collection – there to provide the
hhave called upon the expertise of
value – but also supports the Royal
information that the Admiralty
tthe Admiralty Library to identify a
Navy of today and of tomorrow.
needed,” said current Admiralty
mmap or chart which would match the
A dusty, dry repository of archaisms
Librarian Jenny Wraight, the
sstatus and nation of the recipient.
it most certainly is not.
first professional librarian in two
The Library contains more than
It owes its existence to the
centuries.
jjust maps and charts, stunning
organisational skills of civilian John
“And we have kept old
tthough they are – there are also
Finlaison, who was appointed as first
material because it is still useful
aaccounts of voyages, first editions of
Librarian to the Admiralty in August
– even very old material.
ppioneering scientific books, accounts
1809.
“It might be needed in a legal
oof Admiralty business and so on.
Finlaison is regarded as the first
case, for example.
So, besides hand-coloured charts
(unofficial) Government actuary, and
“And the fact that we retained
pprepared by Captain James Cook
his expertise in creating and applying
plans for an early extension of
mortality tables opened up a whole
the dockyard in the 1860s – plans ns
hhimself is an early 19th century first
stumbled across a whole raft offf
edition of A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean,
new world of national statistics.
which Defence Estates did not have
material on the Russo-Japanese War
covering Cook’s ill-fated third voyage
As Keeper of the Records, Finlaison
– proved very useful in preparatory
in which he became engrossed.
of exploration.
was asked to devise a plan for
work for the arrival of the new aircraft
The Library has many visitors
Admittedly, the book has been
arranging the records and dispatches
carriers.
from all over the world because the
defaced by someone scribbling
● (Above) The title page from the fi rst edition of
Mercator’s collection of maps, introducing the concept
at the Admiralty, the legacy of the first
“It can also help in cases involving
Library has global reach, just as the
comments in the margins.
of Atlas to such books
Admiralty Hydrographer, Alexander
those who might seek to plunder
Royal Navy was (and is) a global
Fortunately the scribbles are by that
Dalrymple.
shipwrecks.
organisation.
Hollywood-style villain William Bligh,
His system of analysis and
“We even have material on
The Library alone, not counting
of mutiny on the Bounty infamy, a
indexing for immediate retrieval
explosives which has been useful. An
the NHB archive, contains around
brilliant technician but rather less
of any document was so successful
Explosive Ordnance Disposal team
capable man-manager.
that it not only formed the basis
could only find the specifications for a
180,000 volumes.
Among his somewhat querulous
for the Admiralty Library, but was
particular type of British mine here.
Putting a value on that is virtually
ery shelf has annotations is one that an observation
also adopted in France, Russia and
“There were only 24 made – it was
impossible – “ev
something amazing on it,” said Ms in the published work is totally
Austria, and Finlaison is reckoned to
a complete disaster – but one was
Wraight. incorrect, while on another page a
be one of the founding fathers of the
washed up on an Italian shore.
Individual pages from historic fellow mariner is described as spending
National Archive.
“They had to come to us to see
atlases may sell for thousands of most of his time asleep or eating but
His work meant that a disparate
which wire to cut, so to speak.
pounds on the open market, yet the otherwise serving no useful purpose.
collection of charts, reports, sketches,
“More recently one team needed to
Library may have a complete bound Other items are more humble in
logs and the like could be brought
know what type of torpedo would be
volume of those maps. appearance but are still much-prized.
together cohesively, put into use and
found on board a particular type of
There are items of astonishing In the Library’s collection of signal
published where necessary.
U-boat as they wanted to deal with a
beauty, one being “one of the great books, for example, is one belonging
It also meant that new members of
wreck in British waters.”
books of the world,” according to Ms to Henry West, which was in the
the Admiralty Board (and Finlaison’s
The Library receives requests for
Wraight. pocket of the Master’s Mate of HMS
successors) could pick up the baton information from all over the world,
A first edition of Mercator’s Atlas Africa, Henry West, during the Battle
with ease – the Scot had essentially and often the inquirer finds he or she
dates from the 16th Century, and the of Trafalgar.
created a corporate memory, an early has just scratched the surface of a
vibrant colours belie its age (other The Admiralty Library always seeks
version of the current Naval Historical veritable treasure trove.
atlases go as far as to include gold leaf new books to buy, but in recent times
Branch, of which the Admiralty A Japanese professor recently
to pick out highlights). has probably added more from the
Library is a major constituent. booked in to look at Anglo-Japanese
The volume’s title page features break-up of other libraries across the ● Mercator’s version of the Isle of Wight
The next major innovator arrived relations before World War 1, and
the mythological Atlas, complete Ministry of Defence.
with celestial and terrestrial spheres, The Royal Naval College at
lending his name to all subsequent Greenwich yielded numerous useful
map books. items, as did the clearing out of the
The volume, a seminal work in old War Office Library.
the study of geography, now worth There are also occasional gifts and
hundreds of thousands of pounds, was manuscripts sent in by members of the
bought by Dalrymple on September 2 public or ex-matelots – the Library’s
1786 for five shillings. modest budget does not stretch to
Another book contains the trawling the shops and websites of
geographical thoughts of classical antiquarian booksellers.
scholar Ptolemy, as printed by Staff are interested in any genuine
Erasmus in Basel in 1533; this Naval books, maps and the like, and
book demonstrates an early form can suggest an alternative home if it
of identification, where the title was would be more appropriate.
handwritten across the edges of the “We have been offered items once
pages and the book placed on a shelf or twice when we have said to the
‘back-to-front’. donor ‘I think you might want to see
Blaeu’s Atlas Major of 1662, in 12 about getting that sold on the open
volumes, has been described as the market – do you realise the value of
most beautiful atlas in the world; it this?’
was so highly prized that it was given Apart from the historical collection,
as gifts between heads of state. the Library also boasts an unrivalled
Gifts involving reproductions of old ‘normal’ collection which is the staple
Admiralty Librarian charts or maps are still in vogue today, fare for researchers and staff alike – ● An illustration from a wartime handbook.
Jenny Wraight wonders if this is the reason buses tend to arrive in
● A sketch of a French warship in the Dardanelles, produced
and senior politicians – including the
convoys...
by Lt Cdr Rowland Langmaid, then a midshipman
one of the best collections of books on
Prime Minister and Defence Secretary the RN that exists.
● A mariner’s view of New York in 1671, taken
from the seminal Seller’s English Pilot
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