[Napoleonic Wars: the arming of six British merchant ships, c.1807.] Manuscript ‘Account of Sundry Stores received from the Pilot Boates [sic]’, ‘Respecting Arming Pilot Boates / Account of Stores’.

None of the boats and captains named in the present item are present in contemporary Navy Lists, so they would appear to be merchant ships. 2pp, foolscap 8vo. Aged and worn, with slight loss along edges and faded to a small portion of text. Folded four times into a packet, named (on the reverse): ‘Respecting Arming Pilot Boates / Account of Stores’. The whole of the recto is filled with text, divided into six rectangles in two columns of three rectangles each, under the heading ‘Account of Sundry Stores received from the Pilot Boates’. Each of the rectangle contains fourteen to sixteen lines of accounts, with some information regarding what items have been ‘Rec[eive]d’ or are ‘Wan[tin]g’, for the following six boats: ‘No. 1 Brittania Stephen Brown’, ‘No. 2. Sloop Neptune Jno. [Hurry?]’, ‘No. 3. Boate Syren, Wm. Jackson’, ‘No. 4 Boate Fox. Thomas Lundie’, ‘No. 5 Boate Rover. Rob: Jackson’, ‘No. 6 Boate Tarter Wm [Joyston?]’. The accots for the Brittania (15 May 1805), Syren (21 [?] 1809), Tarter ([?] 1807) and Rover (6 June 1809) are carried over onto the reverse in one column, along with ‘Delivd. Messrs. Piercy Thomas Ship Chandlers / 1805 May 5 / Fox / 2 Barrells Gun Powder / 1 Tin Bottle with Do.’ As an example, here are the entries for the Brittania: ‘Two Cannonades 12 Pounders 2 [Recd.] / Two Carrages [sic] for ditto. 2 [Recd.] / Four Gun Tackles / Two Gun Brickings / Two Gun Handspikes / Two Gun Aprons / Twenty Cannaster or Grape Shot / Twenty Round Shots / On [sic] Ladle & Worm SC 1 [Recd.] / Two Rammers SC. 2 [Recd.] / Two Powder Horns & 4 prickers SC 2 [Recd.] / Two Cartridge Boxes / Two Malet Stocks & Height Board S.C. 1 [Recd.] / Frame Slides & Balls recd.’ See Image