Guide to the Papers of Basil Lubbock (as filmed by the AJCP)
M3055 - M3058
National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record
Created: 2019
Collection Summary
- Creator
- Lubbock, Basil, 1876-1944
- Title
- Papers of Basil Lubbock (as filmed by the AJCP)
- Date Range
- 24 December 1792 - 13 March 1936
- Collection Number
- M3055 - M3058
- Extent
- 45 items
- Language of Materials
- English
- Repository
- Australian Joint Copying Project
- Sponsor
- The Australian Joint Copying Project (AJCP) online portal was created with the assistance of the Australian Public Service Modernisation Fund, 2017-2020. The National Library of Australia gratefully acknowledges the contribution of the other foundation AJCP partners, the State Library of New South Wales and The National Archives of the UK, and all other organisations which supported the work of the AJCP, the world's most extensive collaborative copying project, operating from 1948 to 1997.
Introduction
Scope and Contents
Diary 14 September-27 December 1882 kept by passenger on the Superb between Melbourne and London.
Captain's logs including logs of Patriarch kept by Capt. Henry Plater on voyages from London to Sydney 1877 and 1883, Thermopylae by Capt. John Henderson on voyages from between London and Sydney 1881-83, and Cutty Sark by Capt. Moodie on voyages between London and Shanghai 1870-72.
Correspondence, notes and photographs 1876-1903 concerning the passenger ship Torrens.
Papers c.1927-29 relating to Bully Hayes, trading in the Pacific, and blackbirding.
Papers c.1882-1922 concerning voyages of the Cutty Sark between London and Sydney.
Correspondence 1928-34 of Basil Lubbock. Correspondents include Capt. R. Hamilton and Henry E. Earp.
Log and journal 1881-84 kept on HMS Beagle and HMS Nelson.
Notes and logs of South Seas whaling vessels.
Conditions Governing Access
Available for Access.
Conditions Governing Use
Many of the records digitised as part of the AJCP are still in copyright. Readers wishing to publish or reproduce documents should seek permission, in the first instance, from the owner of the original material.
Preferred Citation
Acknowledgement of use of this material should refer to the location of the original material and to the Australian Joint Copying Project.
Items from this collection should include references to the location of the original material and to the AJCP nla.obj number, which serves as the online identifier for the digital copy.
Example: M Series: Journal of Capt. James Cook, 18 February 1770, British Library Add. MS 27885 (AJCP ref: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1234)
Archival History
Material selectively filmed at the National Maritime Museum, London, as part of the Australian Joint Copying Project, 1992 (AJCP Reels: M3055-3058). Original microfilm digitised as part of the AJCP Online Delivery Project, 2017-2020.
National Maritime Museum Section 5: Artificial collections previously assembled.
Existence and Location of Originals
National Maritime Museum, Romney Road, Greenwich, London.
Collection reference: N.M.M. Section 5 LUB. For further information see Basil Lubbock at the National Maritime Museum [http://collections.rmg.co.uk/archive.html#!asearch]
Existence and Location of Copies
The original AJCP microfilm of the records filmed from this collection is available at the National Library of Australia [https://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1714381] as well as other institutions holding AJCP microfilm.
Related Materials
The Australian and New Zealand papers from the following collections at the National Maritime Museum have been listed and filmed separately:
BRI: Admiral Sir Cyprian Bridge, M3061 - M3067 [https://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn193147]
FLI: Captain Matthew Flinders, M3033 - M3037 [https://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn10162]
FXM: Cicely Fox Smith, M3048 - M3050 [https://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1715611]
HTN: Hamilton Family, M3059 - M3060 [https://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1716939]
PHI: Phipps Hornby Family, M3068 - M3072 [https://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1715464]
STK:Admiral John Lort Stokes, M3051-M3054 [https://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn191533]
Finding-aid Notes
This finding aid is a revised online version of the original finding aid prepared by the Australian Joint Copying Project (AJCP), published by the National Library of Australia in 2019. The original AJCP finding aids were unpublished typescripts or photocopies available from libraries that held copies of the original microfilm.
Dates used in this finding aid refer to the date range of the records selected for filming rather than to the date range of the Series or Files.
Pieces that were not filmed by the Australian Joint Copying Project have not been included in this Finding Aid.
Subjects
Australia; Beagle, HMS (ship); Cutty Sark (ship); Earp, Henry E.; Great Britain; Hamilton, R., Captain; Hayes, William H. 'Bully'; Henderson, John, Captain; Historians; London, England; Lubbock, Basil; Moodie, Captain; Nelson, HMS (ship); Pacific labour trade; Pacific Ocean; Patriarch (ship); Photographs; Plater, Henry, Captain; Royal Navy: voyages; Sarawak; Shanghai, China; Supero, HMS (ship); Sydney, New South Wales ; Thermopylae (ship); Torrens (ship); Whales and whaling
Bibliography
Originally cited in Australian Joint Copying Project Handbook. Part 8: Miscellaneous (M) Series. Third Edition, published 1998. Entry 295, pp110-111.
Biographical / Historical
Basil Lubbock (1876-1944) went to Canada in 1897 and on to the gold rush in the Klondyke. He came home on Royalshire as an ordinary seaman, a voyage he recorded in Round the world before the mast (London, 1902). After World War I he spent his life recording the history of sailing ships between 1850-1930. His books include The China Clippers (1914), The Colonial Clippers (1921) and The Last of the Windjammers (2 Vols. 1927-1928).
Item Descriptions
Series 1/2. Donald Munro Log of the Ship Superb, Melbourne to London, 14 September 1882 - 27 December 1882
Diary kept by passenger; details of leaving Sandridge; weather; sails set; entertainment on board; course and daily run; catching birds; gales and heavy seas; crossing date line; learning Latin and algebra from fellow passenger; playing quoits and cricket; sighting islands of Diego Ramirez: rounding the Horn; storm 'snows and hail fell heavily for a long time and we had a snowballing match'; sighting whales; birds; sighting other ships; transit of Venus; passing Lizard lighthouse.
At back of volume - abstract log and details of Superb.
(112p.)
Archival History
Originally filmed on AJCP Reel M3055
Series 1/3. Captain's Abstract Logbook, 1872 - 1876
Includes Abstract logs of voyages made by Halloween Captain James Watt, London to Sydney, 1872-1876 and The Tweed, Captain W.Stuart, London to Melbourne, 1873.
Details of course, weather, wind, remarks - weather, sails set, cargo.
(59p.)
Archival History
Originally filmed on AJCP Reel M3055
Series 1/4. Captain's Abstract Logbook, 1870 - 1884
Logs of Patriarch, Captain Henry Plater on voyages London to Sydney, 1877, 1883; Thermopylae, Captain John Henderson, London to Sydney, 1881, Sydney to Shanghai 1881, to London 1882, London to Sydney 1882, Sydney to London, 1882; London to Sydney 1883, Sydney to London 1883-1884; Cutty Sark, Captain Moodie, London to Shanghai, 1870-1872.
Details of course, wind, weather, remarks - sails set, passengers, sighting lighthouses, speaking with other ships.
(120p.)
Archival History
Originally filmed on AJCP Reel M2765
Series 2. Torrens, 1876 - October 1923
Comprises: correspondence, notes, photographs and articles re Torrens, passenger ship to Adelaide, 1876-1903.
Correspondents include: (some ex crew members), A.T.Saunders (London), John Fletcher (Port Adelaide), Captain A.W.Phillips (Bournemouth), Captain S.Angel (no place), Captain E.H.Preston-Thomas (Auckland), H.R.Angel (Ealing), E.C.Bowden-Smith (London), Sydney Ramsay Cox (River Murray).
Copy: article by Joseph Conrad 'The Torrens' in Blue Peter, vol. 3, no. 19, October 1923, pp250-4.
(86p)
Archival History
Originally filmed on AJCP Reel M3055
Series 3. Pacific Traders, c.1927-1929
Comprises: correspondence, press cuttings, and notes re Bully Hayes, trading in the Pacific and 'blackbirding'
Correspondents include: E.T. Laister (Grimsby), G.W. Airey (Sydney), George Schutze (Sydney), Hartley R. Watson (Williamstown), George Irvine (Christchurch), Gerhard Heyen (Sydney), M. Reymond (Gilbert Islands).
(179p.)
Archival History
Originally filmed on AJCP Reel M3055
Series 5. Letters re Sundry Ships, 1911 - 1923
3 items(11p)
Archival History
Originally filmed on AJCP Reel M3055
Series 6. Hawaiian Sugar Fleet, c.1929
Comprises: Correspondence with Alfred Moore (Penzance), draft articles and notes on ships engaged in carrying sugar from Hawaii to US ports c. 1929.
(36p.)
Archival History
Originally filmed on AJCP Reel M3055
Series 9. Titania, c.1911-1928
Comprises: Correspondence, voyages book, notes and press cuttings re Titania and other China tea clippers, including Halloween and Sir Lancelot. Includes references to voyages to Australia
Correspondents include: Hudson's Bay Company; H.P.Millard (Maryborough).
(150p.)
Archival History
Originally filmed on AJCP Reel M3055
Series 12-13. Cutty Sark, c.1882-1922
1 itemsFilmed selectively.
Archival History
Originally filmed on AJCP Reel M3056
Folder: Cutty Sark Papers, c.1882-1922 (File)
Comprises: Bills of lading, correspondence, draft articles, press cuttings, abstract log London/Sydney/London 8 May-27 December 1885, invoices, re Cutty Sark c1882-1922.
Correspondents include: D.R. Nichols (Brighton Beach, Victoria); A.T. Saunders (North Adelaide); J.L. Vivian Millett (London, re voyage to Newcastle, 1884); Edward John Miller (East Fremantle); A.Watson (Leith, re voyage to Sydney).
(c200p.)
Series 16. Abstract log of Cutty Sark, 1889 - 1895
Includes voyages: Sydney/London, 1889/90; London/Sydney, 1890; Sydney/London 1890/91; Sydney/London 1891/92; London/Newcastle, 1892; Brisbane/London, 1894/95.
Details of Course, weather, speaking with other ships.
(165p.)
Archival History
Originally filmed on AJCP Reel M3056
Series 18/3. Correspondence, 1928 - 1929
10 itemsAll letters to Lubbock, unless noted. Includes carbons of Lubbock's replies.
Archival History
Originally filmed on AJCP Reel M3056
C File, April 1928 - September 1929 (File)
3 itemsFilmed selectively.
Series 20. Correspondence, 1880 - 1936
8 itemsAll letters to Lubbock, unless noted.
Filmed selectively.
Archival History
Originally filmed on AJCP Reel M3056
E File, October 1883 - February 1933 (File)
5 items
Henry E. Earp (Hull), 25 October 1929 (Item)
Enclosing paper by Captain David Thomson on voyages of Euphrosyne c.1887 - 1907 on Australia trade. (17p.)
J.C.B. Jarvis (Tayport), 13 February 1933 (Item)
Enclosing paper on Earl Dalhousie, taking emigrants to AustraliaIncludes: photograph of ship. (6p.)
N File, June 1930 - December 1930 (File)
3 itemsS File, July 1931 - April 1934 (File)
3 items
Series 30/5. Log and journal kept on HMS Beagle and HMS Nelson, [June] 1881 - May 1884
On Australian station.
(145p.)
Details of course, weather, bearings.
Journal describes: voyage to Australia in HMS Nelson, 1881; arrival at Fremantle 'The place not up to much.….the people very hospitable'; visit to Perth; voyage to Albany and Sydney; activities at Sydney; Hobart; steam trials; joins Beagle 4 April 1882; sailing to Blanchard Island; description of natives of New Britain; Duke of York group; Admiralty Group; sighting 'blackbirding' boats; fauna; Cooktown; Percy Islands; Sydney; movements of other ships in harbour; rejoins Nelson 19 March 1883; Queen's Birthday celebrations; voyage to Fiji; Norfolk Island - description of Pitcairn islanders 'very dark……but their features are English as a rule' activities in Fiji, 'nobody at all sorry to leave Suva'; high death rate of imported labourers; visit to New Hebrides; Sandwich Islands; Sydney.
Note on other ships.
Archival History
Originally filmed on AJCP Reel M3056
Series 33/2. Captain Pattman's Voyages, 1883 - 1907
Notes on Captain Pattman's and others' voyages in sailing ships, many to Australia. Ships include: Loch Katrine, Loch Long, Heather Bell, Young Australia, Queen of Colonies, Dundee, City of Adelaide, Mermerus, Loch Torridon, Loch Etive, Loch Shiel. Index at back.(150p.)
Archival History
Originally filmed on AJCP Reel M3057
Series 35/3. Log of Samuel Plimsoll on a voyage London to Sydney. (74p.), 5 March 1897 - 31 October 1897
Details of course, wind, weather, some remarks on weather, duties of crew, 'Mr Guigold passenger expired very quietly without a struggle', 18 May.
Abstract log of Samuel Plinsoll from Sydney to London 23 - 31 October 1897.(pencil, faint).
Archival History
Originally filmed on AJCP Reel M3057
Series 38/6. Register of London Whalers
Includes notes on Southsea Whalers owned by Samuel Enderby and Sons and Green Wigram and Green.
(55p. some blank pages.)
Archival History
Originally filmed on AJCP Reel M3057
Series 38/7. A Journal of a voyage from London to the coast of Peru by the whale ship Georgiana, 1802 - 1803
by William Mott
(63p. some blank pages, copy.)
Details of voyage round Cape Horn; killing whales; Narborough Island; Chatham Isle; sighting other fish, duties of crew; other whaling ships.
Archival History
Originally filmed on AJCP Reel M3057
Series 38/8. Log of the William Southsea whaling ship by William Mott, 1796 - 1803
Details of leaving London in company of other ships, 12 April 1796; duties of crew; rounding Cape Horn; Isle of Masafuro; killing whales; Chatham Island; watching for turtles; other whaling ships; scurvy; catching turpins on James Island; Narborough Island.
(84p. copy)
Archival History
Originally filmed on AJCP Reel M3057
Series 38/10. Voyage of Comet to Southsea Fishery, 1812 - 1815 and notes from voyage of the Rattler by Captain James Colnett, 24 December 1792 - 1815
3 items(47p.)
Archival History
Originally filmed on AJCP Reel M3057
Extracts from log of Hull Whaler Comet to Southsea fishery, 3 September 1812 - 3 December 1815 (Item [A])
Details of ship, Captain Abel Scurr; other Southsea whalers; course; rounding Cape Horn; rendezvous at Mocha Island; catching sperm whales; duties of crew; rebel action in Telquana Roads, Comet boarded and crew taken prisoner; Comet liberated; order finally restored by Spanish and Comet allowed to sail after being detained 12 months; killing blackfish; killing seals on Hood, Charles and Gardener Islands to make shoes for crew; death of Captain Scurr at Callao; voyage home.
Notes from a voyage to the South Atlantic and round Cape Horn into the Pacific Ocean, 1798 (Item [B])
For the purpose of extending the Spermaceli Whale Fisheries and other objects of commerce by ascertaining the Ports, Bays, Harbours and anchoring births in certain islands and coasts in those seas at which the ships of the British merchants might be refitted undertaken and performed by Captain James Colnett of the Royal Navy in the ship Rattler.
Series 39/4. Log of and notes on Normancourt by Frank Logan, 17 March 1879 - 13 July 1879
Copy of journal kept by passenger Frank Logan on voyage of Normancourt, London to Sydney
(58p.)
Details of ship and crew; weather; daily run; sighting other ships; flying fish landing on deck; playing cribbage with Captain; visited Samuel Plimsoll, emigrant ship to obtain medical advice - not allowed on board due to measles epidemic; St Elmo's Fire; Crozet Islands sighted; St Paul's Island, gales; entering Sydney Heads.
Includes account of loss of Normancourt, wrecked off Holyhead in 1883 on voyage from Java with sugar.
Archival History
Originally filmed on AJCP Reel M3057
Series 39/5. Thermopylae Notebook, 1868 - 1895
Notes, correspondence and press cuttings on the voyages of Thermopylae to Australia. Correspondents include Charles Hopkins (Brisbane).
Archival History
Originally filmed on AJCP Reel M3058
Series 39/8. Cutty Sark: Notebook, 1870 - 1894
Notes and press cuttings on Cutty Sark.
(262p. some blank pages.)
Subjects include: opinions of sailors on the ship; speeds logged; design and specification; cargos carried; abstract logs for voyages 1st, 1870 - 23rd, 1894.
Archival History
Originally filmed on AJCP Reel M3058
Series 39/13. Captain D.Williams Logs of Medway and Bellands, 12 September 1916 - 12 May 1927
3 items(83p.)
Archival History
Originally filmed on AJCP Reel M3058
Series 39/25. Captain Edward John Molony's Abstracts, 1874 - 1897
Voyages book for British Statesman, 1874, 1877-1880; British Commodore, 1875-1876; British Merchant, 1880-1893 and British Isles, 1893-1897 on voyages to and from Australia.
(42p.)
Archival History
Originally filmed on AJCP Reel M3058
Series 39/27. Log of Commonwealth, 30 January 1895 - June 1899
Copy of log of Commonwealth
(17p.)
Details: loading 8 miles of cable wire for cable tram cars in Melbourne; finding stowaways; discharging and loading up the Yarra; cargo includes tins of rabbit; visiting Sandridge races on Queen's birthday holiday; 2nd voyage to Melbourne; then in ballast of slippery mud to Newcastle to load coal; 'the harbour looked splendid, one mass of masts and yards gaily decorated with flags of all nations for there were over 120 ships in harbour waiting for coal owing to miners' strike'; waited 3.5 months in harbour; fire on board; loaded coal for Valparaiso; voyage from Rotterdam to Sydney; loading wool at Woolloomooloo; 'off Gippsland, Victoria North Westerly wind enveloped us in smoke from Bush fires', voyage to Boston; in ballast to Albany; loading Karra wood for London.
Archival History
Originally filmed on AJCP Reel M3058
Series 39/31. South Sea Islands. Cuttings and notes
Subjects include: William Henry 'Bully' Hayes; Tahitian customs; fauna; vocabularies; sandalwood trade; Pitcairn Island; Hawaii; New Zealand dependencies; canoes.
(c80p., pagination erratic)
Archival History
Originally filmed on AJCP Reel M3058
Series 41. Miscellaneous Logs, 6 January 1855 - 31 May 1912
3 itemsFilmed selectively.
Archival History
Originally filmed on AJCP Reel M3058
Abstract log of Loch Broom of Glasgow, London to Melbourne, 31 August - 16 December 1911 and Melbourne to London, 23 February 1912 - 31 May 1912 (File [A])
Details of weather, course, position, remarks - weather, winds, sails set, anchorage at Port Adelaide; anchorage at Williamstown.
(4p.)
Abstract log of Harbinger, 8 July 1884 - 25 March 1887 (File [B])
London to Melbourne, 8 July - 2 October 1884, Melbourne to London, 24 December 1884 - 3 April 1885, London to Melbourne, 30 May - 22 August 1885, London to Melbourne 5 June - 1 September 1886, Melbourne to London
Details of weather, course, position, remarks - weather, wind, speaking with other ships, sails set.
(10p).
Lightning Gazette and Black Ball Line Advertiser, 6 January 1855 - 1 August 1857 (File 42)
Copies of the Lightning Gazette and Black Ball Line Advertiser covering 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th voyages of Lightning to Australia 6 January 1855 - 1 August 1857
(291p. index at back).
Subjects include: logs of voyages; notices to passengers; meeting of entertainment committee; programmes of entertainments; specifications of the ship; menus; rescue of steerage passenger who fell overboard; extracts from Captain's letter re progress of voyages; celebration of Queen's birthday; address and testimonial to Captain Enright; items for sale; biographical sketch of Captain Enright; dinner to Captain Enright on his giving up command of Lightning, 24 August 1857.