Maritime Archives

[AussieTreasureHunter83]

Hi all, was just wondering if anyone in the TN community would be able to tell me how I can view or get copies of captain logs, for research purposes as I'm living in Australia, and it's hard for me to get to the Washington DC.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

AussieTreasureHunter83

 

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[Bobadilla]

Hi to Australia,
You are already in 2014, we in the Dominican Republic have to wait still for about one hour......
The captain logs are generally very difficult to get. In case of military ships, you have a slight chance to find them in the naval archives of respective countries. I was quite successful in London Naval Archive in my search for log book of English war frigates operating in the Caribbean around in the 17th century. Also French naval archive can give you good source of information. if you are interested in Dutch East Indian galleons, I can give you contact to a friend of mine who lives in Belgium and has an access to most Dutch naval archives.

I do not know what kind of information you are looking for, but records of persons that survived, naval charts of that period, cargo manifests, even newspaper articles mentioning sinking of a ship, church records, private or public archives, all this can give you valuable hints in your search.

I wish you all the best from other part of the Earth!
Lobo

 

[AussieTreasureHunter83]

Hi to Australia,
You are already in 2014, we in the Dominican Republic have to wait still for about one hour......
The captain logs are generally very difficult to get. In case of military ships, you have a slight chance to find them in the naval archives of respective countries. I was quite successful in London Naval Archive in my search for log book of English war frigates operating in the Caribbean around in the 17th century. Also French naval archive can give you good source of information. if you are interested in Dutch East Indian galleons, I can give you contact to a friend of mine who lives in Belgium and has an access to most Dutch naval archives.

I do not know what kind of information you are looking for, but records of persons that survived, naval charts of that period, cargo manifests, even newspaper articles mentioning sinking of a ship, church records, private or public archives, all this can give you valuable hints in your search.

I wish you all the best from other part of the Earth!
Lobo

Hi Lobo, thank you for getting back to my original question. Sorry for the very reply.
Cheers
Paul

 

[Mackaydon]

Paul,
Do you realize you are replying to a post made ten years ago?
If you don't mind me asking, what ship, date of loss and country of origin are you looking for? There are many on this forum who may be able to assist you.
Don in SoCal.

 

[AussieTreasureHunter83]

Paul,
Do you realize you are replying to a post made ten years ago?
If you don't mind me asking, what ship, date of loss and country of origin are you looking for? There are many on this forum who may be able to assist you.
Don in SoCal.

Hi Mackaydon, yeah i know, i was been curtious and reply to someone who gave me some helpful info. wasnt sure if they where still here on the forum. thank you. Ive just moved back to Aus and once all of my books have arrived and unpacked i'll be able to give you that info.

again thank you for your post.
Paul

 

[Old Bookaroo]

Hi Mackaydon, yeah i know, i was been curtious and reply to someone who gave me some helpful info. wasnt sure if they where still here on the forum. thank you. Ive just moved back to Aus and once all of my books have arrived and unpacked i'll be able to give you that info.

again thank you for your post.
Paul

Ahoy!

At the risk of pointing out the obvious, which nation's vessels you are researching makes a huge difference. Then, as suggested above, whether the ships are government or private is the next cut. Then, probably, the years covered by the logs will be the next hole in the sieve.

One short cut is to locate a book about the voyage(s) you're interested in, and search that work's bibliography. I just finished David Grann's excellent HMS Wager, and he documents his sources in detail. Dave Horner's books are similar, as are Peter Earle's works on the Concepcion.

Good luck to all,

The Old Bookaroo

 

[AussieTreasureHunter83]

Ahoy!

At the risk of pointing out the obvious, which nation's vessels you are researching makes a huge difference. Then, as suggested above, whether the ships are government or private is the next cut. Then, probably, the years covered by the logs will be the next hole in the sieve.

One short cut is to locate a book about the voyage(s) you're interested in, and search that work's bibliography. I just finished David Grann's excellent HMS Wager, and he documents his sources in detail. Dave Horner's books are similar, as are Peter Earle's works on the Concepcion.

Good luck to all,

The Old Bookaroo

Thank you Bookaroo, for not only the advice , but also for some new authors for me to check out.