Small leather bound notebook containing a journal kept by Chief Engineer William Anderson on the wooden paddle sloop HMS BULLDOG (1845) from 15 February 1854 to 26 December 1856. At the start of this period the BULLDOG was in the Baltic fleet commanded by Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Napier. There are brief references to his wife Hannah Anderson (nee Sanders) and two young daughters. The volume also has notes on coal consumption, HMS ODIN (1846), HMS JANUS (1856), Major General Havelock and the Cawnpore Massacre, also various drawings and poems.

Administrative / biographical background
Anderson was born at Musselburgh in Scotland in 1813. He was employed in the factories at Woolwich before entering the Royal Navy in 1843. He died at Southsea in 1873. His service record can be found under reference ADM 196/23/53 at The National Archives.