This month we look into Archive and Library item ADL/Q/72, papers relating to the award of the Distinguished Service Cross to Lieutenant R.T.C. Worsley DSC, RNVR, for bravery while serving as a Gunnery Officer aboard MGB314, in March 1942 participating in ‘Operation Chariot’.

When tucking into your Christmas lunch this year, spare a thought for how polar explorers of the heroic age celebrated Christmas.

The personal diary of a Royal Navy commander’s wife offers a striking insight into the lives of the British ruling classes in 1920s India and Sri Lanka.

Discover the story of Just Nuisance, the only dog ever enlisted in the Royal Navy

With Napoleon Bonaparte having surrendered to British forces following his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo it was decided to send him into exile once again, this time to the remote South Atlantic island of St Helena. Rear Admiral Sir George Cockburn was given the task of transporting the former Emperor to the island on board HMS Northumberland and the Caird Library and Archive holds an extract from his journal (RMG ID: COC/9) covering these events.

October’s item of the month is a personal journal written by Gilbert James Inglis. He served as purser on board the convict ship Duchess of Northumberland and kept a diary on a voyage from London to Hobart, November 1852 to April 1853 (RMG ID: JOD/150)

The Libraries Week 2019 theme is celebrating libraries in a digital world. To mark the occasion here at the Caird Library we thought it would be fitting to highlight some of the work we have done over the last few years in digitising parts of our collections and making them more accessible.