Naval history

One volume containing records of ship Defence, commissioned in 1776 for defence of Baltimore. Included are dimensions of ship, names of crew, and lists of equipment from the Revolutionary period, circa 1776-1777. The volume was compiled in 1896 from papers in the Land Office of Maryland by Philip D. Laird (1847-1920), member of Maryland Public Service Commission, lawyer, and Speaker of House of Delegates.

Scrapbook volumes from an unknown compiler contain newspaper clippings relative to 20th century maritime history. Clippings concern world-wide shipping disasters and naval activities of America, Britain, and Germany from the Spanish Civil War through the European and Pacific Theaters of World War II. Topics include American naval defenses, German submarine activity, and shipwrecks in the Chesapeake Bay region.