Records relating to surveys carried out by Royal Navy warships and surveying vessels in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, including surveys of the coasts and adjoining islands and reefs of Australia and New Zealand. The bulk of the records filmed date from 1828 to 1855, when Sir Francis Beaufort was Hydrographer, but many later letters, reports and sailing directions have also been copied. Among the records filmed are extracts from journals and logs, remark books, sailing directions, reports, letters and survey data books and also selected items from the minute-books 1825-1856 and letter-books 1815-1855 of the Hydrographic Department.