The item consists of one album of approximately 150-200 large scale, or mammoth plate, photographs depicting landscapes, architecture, and people in Victoria (Esquimalt, the Gorge, James Bay) as well as Madeira, Bahia, Rio Janeiro, Paraguay, Melbourne, New Zealand, Kamakuya (Kamakura, Japan), Honolulu, the Sandwich Islands, Chili, Jamaica, Egypt, and possibly the Sudan.

Photographers include Felice Beato and Javier Lopez. Photographs of B.C. taken by Frederick Dally. All photographs have been captioned by the album creator, most with elaborate script in red and black ink and some in pencil.

At the top of the first page a portrait of a man has been adhered and captioned “Rear Admiral G. Phipps Hornby” (1785-1867). In the centre of the page is an image of approximately seven sailing vessels with the caption “The Flying Squadron, 19th July, Plymouth, 1869.” At the bottom of the page is an image of numerous men posed aboard a ship, with a dingo. Their names have been captioned below.

Correspondence outward (17 letters) written during his service with the Royal Navy in the Caribbean and off the east coast of South America; one incomplete letter dated 2 June 1850 from an unidentified correspondent.