Coles, Cowper Phipps (1819-1870)

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0064 CCC
Held at	: National Maritime Museum   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/ ›
Full title	: Coles, Cowper Phipps (1819-1870)
Date(s)	: 1862-1878
Level of description	: Collection
Extent	: 3 vols
Name of creator(s)	: Coles | Cowper Phipps | 1819-1870 | Captain

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Coles entered the Navy in 1838 and was promoted to lieutenant in 1846. He served in the Mediterranean and was made a commander in 1854 and a captain in 1856. His experiences in the Crimean War led him to experiment with defensive armour and turrets for ships, which he developed often at his own expense. HMS CAPTAIN, launched in 1869, was a low feeboard turret vessel built to Coles's design against the views of the Surveyor of the Navy. On trials, the CAPTAIN capsized off Cape Finisterre in 1870, drowning her designer and almost 500 other officers and crew.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers of Cowper Phipps Cole, consisting of three large albums of newspaper cuttings which relate to the Navy and to ship design and were collected by Coles himself between 1862 and his death. There are a number of later cuttings to 1878.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

Conditions governing access:

Please contact the Archive for further information.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Please contact the Archive for further information.

Finding aids:

Detailed catalogue online at the: National Maritime Museum website .

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

The papers were presented by Mrs Sherard Cowper-Toles in 1936.

Allied Materials

Related material:

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Edited by Sarah Drewery, Jun 2011.

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
2011-01-28