Carteret Family

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0064 CAR
Held at	: National Maritime Museum   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/ ›
Full title	: Carteret Family
Date(s)	: [1779-1815]
Level of description	: Collection View subfonds/series records
Extent	: 5ft
Name of creator(s)	: Carteret | Philip | c 1733-1796 | Rear-Admiral Silvester | Sir | Philip Carteret | 1777-1828 | Knight | Captain

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

When he entered the Navy, in 1747, Philip Carteret joined the Salisbury and then served from 1751 to 1755 under Captain John Byron (1723-1786). Between 1757 and 1758 he was in the Guernsey on the Mediterranean Station. As a lieutenant in the Dolphin he accompanied Byron during his voyage of circumnavigation, 1764 to 1766. On his return Carteret was commissioned for another exploratory voyage, this time commanding the Swallow, which expedition was led by Captain Samuel Wallis (1728-1795) in the Dolphin. The ships separated early in the voyage and Carteret made many independent discoveries. When he returned home he was on half-pay for a time and joined the movement pressing for an increase in the half-pay allowance. In 1779, Carteret was appointed to the Endymion and after a few months in the Channel went to the west coast of Africa before sailing for the West Indies to join Admiral Rodney's (1719-1792) fleet. He returned to England in 1781, had no further employment and was made rear-admiral in 1794.

Sir Philip Carteret Silvester was the son of Rear-Admiral Philip Carteret (q.v.) and adopted the name of Silvester in 1822. He entered the Navy in 1792 and joined the Lion under Captain Sir Erasmus Gower (q.v.) on Lord Macartney's Embassy to China. He continued to serve under Gower in the Triumph in 1795 in the Channel and was promoted to lieutenant in that year. He then served in the Imperieuse, Channel and North Sea, 1795 to 1796, in the Greyhound, 1796 to 1798 in the Channel and the Cambrian, 1801, to St. Helena. His first command was the Bonne Citoyenne in the West Indies in 1802. In 1804 he was appointed to the Scorpion, North Sea, until 1806, after which she went to the West Indies until 1807. In 1809 Carteret commanded the gun boats in the Walcheren Expedition. Carteret was given command of the Naiad for a year in 1811 and then the Pomone, 1813 to 1814, both on the Lisbon Station. After the war he commanded the Active on the Jamaica Station but saw no further service after 1817.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers of Philip Carteret, including logs of the Guernsey and Endymion; a letterbook, 1779 to 1780, and a large number of loose papers including letters from Byron and others and various notes on his ships and voyages. The Endymion is the only ship for which there is much material, there being but few notes about his voyages of circumnavigation. His private journals for the years 1779 to 1789 cover the period in considerable detail and there are many letters relating to the movement for the increase in half-pay. The collection includes letters from Carteret's son, Samuel, to his mother, 1794 to 1796, some written from the Expedition at Plymouth, and the remainder from the Mediterranean and the West Indies. There are also letters from his other son, Philip (later Silvester, q.v.), relating to his voyage in the Lion with Lord Macartney's Embassy to China, 1794 to 1796.

Papers of Sir Philip Carteret Silvester, comprising logs, 1792 to 1798, 1801 and 1815 to 1817, letterbooks, 1806 to 1807 and 1811 to 1814, and correspondence, 1792 to 1815, including a series from Sir Erasmus Gower (q.v.), 1792 to 1814. Finally there are papers relating to the family and records of several tours made during his retirement.

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 purchased from Maggs Bros. in 1933.

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:
2010-08-26