In 2013, I met Justin Reay, then of the Bodleian Library, at the Navy & Nation conference at the National Maritime Museum. Upon hearing about how he was working on BritishNavalHistory.com, a new project, I rather impetuously begged/demanded that I join him. He graciously acceded, and together we worked on what would become this website.
Part of the reason that Justin and I got along so well is that we were both very much interested in Pepys and his collections of naval documents. He presented me with a document- typed, with handwritten notes and comments, a catalogue of the Pepysian volumes in the Rawlinson Manuscripts at the Bodleian. Justin described it as a ‘Breviate’ calendar, and it was destined to be included in his book on the Pepysian documents. As provided to me, it is very much a work-in-progress. However, it was critical to me doing research for my PhD thesis- it allowed me to get right into the volumes for the documents I wanted, and then explore through them (often taking several thousand photos in a day).
I hope that this document can be as useful for you as it has been for me.
