Notebook containing a journal kept by Petty Officer 1st Class Thomas James Modley, 23 November 1901 to 10 December 1904. It covers his voyage from Portsmouth to China on the cruiser HMS AMPHITRITE (1898) and then service on the despatch vessel HMS ALACRITY (1885), commissioned at Hong Kong on 8 January 1902. The final entry records his departure from Singapore on the armoured cruiser HMS CRESSY (1899). The volume also contains notes on first aid, song lyrics, an extract from the 'Navy League Journal', and a list of passages, ports and distances.

Administrative / biographical background
Modley was born at Bristol in 1869 and entered the Navy as a boy on the training ship HMS IMPREGNABLE at Devonport. He died at Portsmouth in 1956. His service record can be found under the reference ADM 188/187/136284 at The National Archives.