The volumes include a log, 1856 to 1874; a diary, 1875 to 1876, and an admiral's journal, 1892 to 1894. For the TRIUMPH, 1879 to 1882, there is a night order book, a captain's information book, a remark book and a letterbook. There is a night order book for the HECLA, 1879 to 1885, a remark book for the ACTIVE, Training Squadron, 1888, a telegram book and reports for the Mediterranean, 1892 to 1894, and press cuttings and photograph albums. The papers include correspondence on the voyage of the ROSARIO; official correspondence, 1886 to 1889, 1892 to 1893; papers relating to the collisions in which Markham was involved; letters and papers on Antarctic exploration and on Markham's literary work. Finally, there is Markham's semi-official and private correspondence throughout his career. This includes letters from his cousin Sir Clements R. Markham (1830-1916).

Administrative / biographical background
Albert Hastings Markham entered the Navy in 1856 and served for eight years on the China Station in HMS CAMILLA, HMS NIGER, HMS RETRIBUTION, HMS IMPERIEUSE, HMS COROMANDEL and HMS CENTAUR. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1862 and served in HMS VICTORIA in the Mediterranean from 1864 to 1867 and in HMS BLANCHE on the Australian Station from 1868 to 1871. He was then acting commander of HMS ROSARIO, 1871 to 1872, during a voyage to the New Hebrides in connection with the suppression of the South Seas labour trade. He became a commander in 1872 and, while on leave in 1873, sailed in the whaler ARCTIC to the Davis Strait and Baffin Bay. From 1873 to 1874 he served in HMS SULTAN with the Channel Squadron. Markham was commander of HMS ALERT under Sir George Nares during the British Arctic Expedition 1875-1876. His sledging party reached lat. 83°20'26" N, long. 64° W, in May 1876, which remained a record until 1895. In 1879 Markham accompanied Sir Henry Gore-Booth on a cruise to Novaya Zemlya. He commanded HMS TRIUMPH, flagship on the Pacific Station, 1879 to 1882, and HMS VERNON, 1883 to 1886. In 1885 he was senior officer on the torpedo depot ship HMS HECLA, when she collided with the schooner CHEERFUL. Whilst on leave in 1886 Markham made a survey of Hudson Bay and Strait for the proposed Hudson Bay Railway Company. From 1886 to 1889 he was commodore of the Training Squadron. He was promoted to rear-admiral in 1891 and from 1892 to 1894 was second-in-command in the Mediterranean. In 1893, off the Syrian coast, Markham's flagship HMS CAMPERDOWN collided with the fleet flagship, HMS VICTORIA, which sank with great loss of life. The courts-martial exonerated Markham, but he was later censured in an Admiralty minute. He became vice-admiral in 1897 and served on the Joint Antarctic Committee and on the executive committee for the DISCOVERY expedition 1901 to 190 led by Captain Robert F. Scott. Markham was commander-in-chief at the Nore, 1901 to 1904, knighted in 1903 and retired in 1906. He combined his naval career with a considerable literary output, which included 'The Cruise of the Rosario' (London, 1873), 'The Great Frozen Sea' (London, 1878) on the British Arctic Expedition 1875-1876, ‘Life of Sir John Franklin' (London, 1889), and 'The Life of Sir Clements R. Markham' (London, 1917). See M.E. and F.A. Markham, 'The Life of Sir Albert Hastings Markham' (Cambridge, 1927).