Correspondence, logbooks, journals, fleet orders, reports, and other papers relating to Cockburn's career in the British Royal Navy. Subjects include the War of 1812 and British naval activities against France and Spain, especially in the Mediterranean, Caribbean, and Indian Ocean. Documents Horatio Nelson's Mediterranean exploits; the attempt to rescue King Ferdinand VII, King of Spain; destruction of the Danish navy (Søværnet) in 1801; the burning of Washington, D.C., during the War of 1812; and the exile of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French. Also includes material relating to Spanish colonies in South America and the history of the West Indies, the Bermuda Islands, and the Middle Atlantic states.

Correspondents include comte Henri-Gratien Bertrand; Sir Alexander Forrester Inglis Cochrane; Graf Andreas Daschkoff; W.E. Gladstone; James Monroe; Charles-Tristan, comte de Montholon; Horatio Nelson, Viscount Nelson; and William Pinkney.