Charles LeStrange of the British Royal Navy (of unknown rank but likely an officer, perhaps the navigator) kept the daily logbook for the British warship H.M.S. Princess Royal while on a peacetime cruise (1864-1866) from Plymouth to Shanghai and Yokohama. He recorded the ship’s position on tracking charts fastened into the book, and was perhaps the creator of a number of drawings in the book illustrating topographical features and fortifications along various coastlines passed. His penmanship and evident skill indicate a person of some education and naval experience but further details about his life are unknown.
The logbook kept by Charles LeStrange, R. N., of H.M.S. Princess Royal, a warship of the British Royal Navy, records activities of the vessel from March 11, 1864, to December 9, 1866, while enroute from Plymouth to Shanghai and Yokohama. Entries include daily notations of the ship’s position, ships passed, wind, weather, bearing and distance, and shipboard activities such as daily crew chores, announcement of punishments, drills conducted, vessels passed, crew illness and deaths at sea, and other happenings onboard and in port during their numerous stops.
This material is open for research.
Permission to photocopy or publish material from the Logbook must be obtained from the Woodson Research Center.
See also other collections on British and U.S. Naval History in the Woodson Research Center
H.M.S. Princess Royal (ship) Logbook, 1864-1866, MS 232, Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library, Rice University.
Purchased from dealer in May 1963.