SGN/A/1 ‘Instructions for the better ordering of his majesties fleet in sailing, given by Prince Rupert and George, Duke of Albermarle on board the Royal Charles at the Bay of the Nore, 1 May 1666’, (formerly SM1).
These were some of the first documents that I looked at at the National Maritime Museum, as I had found a scanned copy of the Navy Records Society’s volume of Sailing and Fighting Instructions (edited by Julian Corbett). This is a handwritten volume, and frankly I’m unsure if they’re an original, they may be a later copy.
credit: Caird Library, National Maritime Museum
As you can see, this was a rather early phase of my research when I wasn’t taking pictures of whole pages at a time, but only portions of a page. Unfortunately, this does make this difficult to read at times- although the actual handwriting doesn’t help with that at all.
credit: Caird Library, National Maritime Museum
credit: Caird Library, National Maritime Museum
credit: Caird Library, National Maritime Museum
For me, this is an important set of documents, as it shows the way that the Royal Navy functioned during the 2nd Anglo Dutch War- both in terms of the kinds of instructions that were being issued but also that the documents were handwritten, rather than printed (As later instructions are). SGN/A/1 can be found in Aeon (the Caird’s online catalogue) here. Photos of some of the volume can be found on the Google Drive (22 images total)
