Victorian Naval Forces Manuals, Diaries, Notebooks etc.

Manuals

Turret Drill Manual 1878-85 17 - HMVS Cerberus 3 downloaded times photocopy of only known copy.	General Manual 1886 (gunnery tables only) - Victorian Naval Forces 18 downloaded times courtesy of the Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW	General Manual 1887 - Victorian Naval Forces 1 (complete manual) downloaded times courtesy of the State Library of Victoria	General Manual 1890 - Victorian Naval Forces 6 downloaded times courtesy of the Museum of HMAS Cerberus
General Manual (updates only) circa 1895 - Victorian Naval Forces 6 downloaded times courtesy of Melbourne University	Whitehead Torpedo Manual 1889 - Victorian Naval Forces 4 (Electrical & Torpedo Manual.) downloaded times Only known copy. Purchased by Friends of the Cerberus.	Torpedo Instructions & Electric Lighting Manual c. 1894 - Victorian Naval Forces 22 downloaded times Only known copy. Donated by Wendy Ratawa.

Lists & Regulations

Revised Regulations - Victorian Naval Forces 1893 1 downloaded times courtesy of the State Library of Victoria

Revised Regulations - Victorian Naval Forces 1901 1 downloaded times courtesy of the State Library of Victoria

Victorian Defence Forces List 1889 15 downloaded times courtesy of the Geelong Maritime Museum

Victorian Defence Forces List 1890 2 downloaded times courtesy of the Museum of HMAS Cerberus

Notebooks

Diaries

Delivery Voyage Diary (Delivery Voyage) of James Breaks, (excerpts) 19 downloaded times Diary (Delivery Voyage) of unknown crewmember 20 downloaded times General Journal of James Bryant Conder, typed, (Victorian Navy excerpts) 14 downloaded times Diary of James J. Ovenden (Victorian Navy) 25 downloaded times China Diary (in China) of William Thomas Bertotto (Victorian Naval Brigade) 8 downloaded times Diary, typed, (in China) of Arthur James Livingstone (Victorian Naval Brigade) 12 downloaded times Diary (in China) of William George Robertson (Victorian Navy) Part 1 9 downloaded times Diary (in China) of William George Robertson (Victorian Navy) Part 2 9 downloaded times Diary (in China) of John White (Victorian Navy) 16 (John White's Marching Kit) downloaded times Diary (in China) of William Henry Bates (Victorian Naval Brigade) 24 downloaded times

Crew Details

Victorian Navy Certificates of Service 1884 - 1905. 10	Victorian Naval Forces Enrolment Sheets. 11	Victorian Naval Reserve Register for Some Non-Europeans. 13
Copied & reproduced courtesy of the National Archives of Australia This is a very large pdf file of 109 mb and takes 13 minutes to download with a 1.5 mbps internet connection. downloaded times Sample Certificate of Service 233 kb	Copied & reproduced courtesy of the National Archives of Australia This is a very large pdf file of 101 mb and takes 12 minutes to download with a 1.5 mbps internet connection. downloaded times Sample Enrolment Sheet 411 kb	Copied & reproduced courtesy of the National Archives of Australia This is a very large pdf file of 55 mb and takes 7 minutes to download with a 1.5 mbps internet connection. downloaded times Non-Europeans in the Victorian Navy webpage

Miscellaneous

Interdependence of the Empire in regard to Naval Defence, J. Biddlecombe, Lieut. Victorian Navy, 1897 Melbourne. 7 Copy courtesy of Internet Archive downloaded times Defence of Trade Routes - J. T. Richardson, Lieut. C.N.F., Acting Naval Commandant Queensland (ex V.N.), 20 August 1909. 21 downloaded times

Book of Weights, Engineering details of Cerberus. Copy courtesy of Chris Ramsey downloaded times

On the Sea-Cell as a Possible Source of Danger in Torpedo Experiments. Captain Henry Moors (Torpedo & Signal Corps) Sonsored by the Victorian Regional Channels Authority. downloaded times Also available Enquiry into the Torpedo Accident in 1881 Typed facsimile of the original Report. downloaded times.

Nordenfelt Manuals

Nordenfelt 2 Barrel one inch Machine Gun downloaded times Digitised by the State Library of Victoria

Nordenfelt 4 Barrel one inch Machine Gun downloaded times Digitised by the State Library of Victoria

Nordenfelt 6 pounder Quick Firing Gun downloaded times Digitised by the State Library of Victoria

¹ Scanned from the copy held by the State Library of Victoria.
² Scanned from the copy held by the Museum of HMAS Cerberus.
³ Photocopy donated by John Buncle. (grandson of Christopher Thomas Jones, Victorian Naval Brigade.)
⁴ Purchase sponsored by Patrick O'Sullivan, Brian Russell, Jacqui Nicholson, David Joy & Richard Sartore.
⁵ Scanned from copies held by Bob Nicholls. (Bob cannot recall the source of the notebooks. He would like to be reminded & apologises for not crediting his source.)
⁶ From updates in the copy of the 1890 manual held by Melbourne University Library compared to the original 1890 manual held by the Museum of HMAS Cerberus.
⁷ Copy obtained from the Internet Archive.
⁸ Courtesy of Shirley Joy & Dennis Bertotto.
⁹ Courtesy of the Sea Power Centre.
¹⁰ Reproduced courtesy of the National Archives of Australia: Series B5537, Volume 1.
¹¹ Reproduced courtesy of the National Archives of Australia: Series B5520, Volume 1.
¹² Courtesy of Ken Booth.
¹³ Reproduced courtesy of the National Archives of Australia: Series B5493.
¹⁴ Reproduced courtesy of the Betty Cromb & typed by Cherylle Thurling.
¹⁵ Scanned from the copy held by the Geelong Maritime Museum.
¹⁶ Reproduced courtesy of the State Library of Victoria, Heritage Collection.
¹⁷ The date of 1878 is based on Captain Panter's statement in his letter of resignation "Nor can he (Lieut. Tandy) have learnt the drill by reading, for there are no books in which it is laid down." The Argus, 4 August 1877. The first Manual for Victorian Naval Forces was printed in 1886.
¹⁸ Scanned from the copy held by the Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW.
¹⁹ Courtesy of Peter Frame and Peter Williams.
²⁰ This document is a copy of one held by the State Library of Victoria.
²¹ Australian Maritime Issues 2009. Papers in Australian Maritime Affairs No 32.
²² Donated by Wendy Ratawa, Grand-daughter of Charles Lay (Victorian Navy).
²³ Drawings courtesy of Ross Gillett.
²⁴ Courtesy of John Bates.
²⁴ Courtesy of Doug McKenzie and Pat Majewski.

Printing Victorian Naval Forces Manuals etc.

The Victorian Naval Forces Manuals can be printed on A4 paper. They were however originally printed as pocket size manuals. The General Manual was printed with every second page blank to allow the owner to write notes. The master of our copy ¹ of the General Manual had hand written notes within the first 40 pages. We have not reproduced blank pages after this.

The General Manual - 1887, & the Whitehead Manual print well on A6 size paper.
Although the General Manual - 1890 prints well onto A5 paper it is not suitable for binding as there are 2 consecutive pages to a sheet. A4 paper can be cut in four (A6 size) by most print shops. The Turret Drill Manual requires paper 8.5 inches x 4.25 inches or 16 cms x 10.5 cms.

On 16 October 1886 The Argus newspaper announced that a new manual had just been issued for the Victorian Naval Forces. It was stated that the manual had 300 pages and described gun drills etc.

"The new manual for 1886 for the Victorian Naval Force has just been issued. There are nearly 300 pages of information, embracing a full description of all the guns used in the service, and the detail of drill tor them, an account of the manufacture of projectiles, stations for fire, and torpedo attacks, and the duties of the different members at quarters, and in action. Several pages are devoted to gunnery and range tables, and the whole concludes with full directions for navigating the ships inside Port Phillip." Argus, 16 October 1886.

We are aware of the following editions of this manual:-

• 1886 - 273 pages (no semaphore or signal flag images but gunnery tables missing in later editions)
• 1887 - 274 pages
• 1890 - 284 pages

It goes without saying that we would love to hear of the existence of other Victorian Naval Forces Manuals, notebooks or diaries. With the owner's permission we would also like to make any newly discovered manuals widely available.