April 1st  Usual routine.

2nd  Usual routine. Out fire engine

3rd  General Qrts. Mining party away.

4th  Sats routine.

5th  Sundays routine.

6th  Evolution abandon ship & man & arm boats.

7th  Usual routine. Boats away pulling.

8th  Exercised small arm companies. Racing crews away.

9th  Exercised Gen Qrts.

10th  Good Friday. Divine Service. Dispatched steam boats armed after dhow containing escaped quarantine people. Boat returned successful.

11th  Sats routine. HMS Sphinx arrived. Stokers and seamen boatrace. Stokers winning.

12th  Sundays routine.

13th  Evolution tow a ship & be towed ourselves. Stokers and seamen boat race changed boats. Dead heat.

14th  Whalers racing. Crew away practicing. Divers away. Perseus racing whaler beat Sphinx whaler.

15th Exercised small arm companies. BI boat arrived with Political Resident of Persian Gulf aboard.

16th Left Muscat at 7am with Resident on board.

17th  Genera Qrts. Fired Tube Cannon. Anchored off Sharja. Large town. Sheik came off & received present from Political Resident.

18th Sats routine. Resident visited shore. Left at 1.30pm Sheik came off and was shown around ship & received presents from British. Left 8am (pm?).

19th  Anchored at 7am at Ali Kathi, large town here. Sultan came off as others did. Left at 6pm. Shifted anchored. Anchored at 7pm.

20th  Left at 7am. Exercised Landing parties.

21st  Arrived Bahrein 5am. Large place. HMS Lapwing here. Boat sailing afternoon.

22nd  Left Bahrein 4pm.

23rd Arrived Bushire. Saluted Persian flag 21 guns. Resident went on shore. Left Bushire 6pm. for Muscat.

24th Exercised General Quarters.

25th  Saturdays routine. Arrived at Muscat 6.30pm.

26th  Sundays routine. Divine Service held. Stokers ashore tallying coal.

27th  Coaled ship 270 tons

28th  Hands cleaning ship.

29th  Acting QG’s & stokers training class landed for drill.

30th  Stokers & Actin QGs landed. Prepared for sea.

1st May  Left Muscat 6am. Fired torpedoes sea run. Carried out circular steam trials arriving at Muscat 5pm

2nd  Saturdays routine.

3rd  Sundays routine. Divine Service.

4th  Evolution Man & arm boats. Boats carried out firing. Landed Maxim Guns crews for drill & carried out firing.

5th  Stokers training class& Acting QGs landed for drill. Mail arrived.

6th  Exercised small arm companies. Naiad arrived from Aden & saluted Sultan with 21 guns.

7th  Aired & mustered bedding. Watch out kedge anchor during 1st dog watch.

8th  Prepared for sea & left Muscat 9.30 am for Sur. Exercised General Quarters. Fired Tube Cannon. Arrived & anchored off Sur at 6.30pm. Left Sur at 7.45 pm bound for Muscat.

9th  Arrived Muscat at 7.30 am. Ships company received extra pay for services rendered at Obbia.

10th  Sundays routine. Divine Service. Prepared for coaling.

11th  Coaled ship 150 tons. French Cruiser arrived, she saluted Sultan & Naiad.

12th  Usual routine Sultan paid visit to Naiad.

13th  Hands manned ship as Sultan passed on his way to visit French Cruiser. Exercised small arm companies. Stokers racing cutters crew, beat Naiad’s cutters crew by ¼ mile in two miles.

14th  QGs at drill, make & mend clothes. Boats crews pulled round fleet. Hands bathe every night at Muscat.

15th Hands manned ship as Sultan visited French Cruiser. Cutters crew pulled round fleet. Bathing & recreation party landed.

16th  Usual Saturdays routine. Hands bathed, recreation party landed.

17th Sundays routine. Divine service held. Hands bathed.

18th  Evolution. Out bower anchor by hand. In skiffs race. Pomone beat Perseus. Recreation party landed.

19th  Usual Routine. Watch out fire engine. Recreation Party landed.

20th  Exercised small arm companies. Acting QGs at drill. Boat sailing, hands bathed.

21st May   Aired bedding & hands mustered bedding. Make & mend. Prepared for sea. Turned in boats. Weather very hot.

22nd  Left Muscat & proceeded 6am. Outside harbour fired torpedoes, cannon tube. In the afternoon carried out half quarters firing. Acting QG class also firing, firing very good. Arrived Muscat 5pm.

23rd   Saturdays routine. Racing Cutters & Marine’s Whalers away. Recreation party landed. Hands bathed.

24th  Sunday. Divine Service held.

25th  Evolution, boats pull round squadron & abandon ship. Pomone went out for firing. Hands bathed. QGs started requalifying. Recreation party landed.

26th  QGs at drill. Usual routine. Mail arrived. In galleys race  Naiad beat Pomone by 1½
minutes, 3 mile course. Hands bathed. Dog watch out kedge anchor.

27th  Exercised small arm companies. QGs at drill. Boats pulled round squadron. Whalers race. Perseus beat Pomone marines.

28th  Aired bedding, make & mend. Evolution. Close watertight doors. Hands bathed. Recreation party landed.

29th  Exercised General Quarters. Hands bathed.

30th  Saturdays routine. Prepared for sea & left Muscat 5pm in company with HMS Naiad. Shaped for Karachi.

31st  Sundays routine. Divine Service held. Ships rolling heavily. Turned in boats.

1st June  Naiad & Perseus fired half Quarters practice. Arrived in Karachi 7pm. Fox here S.O. Special leave given. Turned out boats. Patrick Stewart here.

2nd  Gave general leave to watch 1.30 pm to 6 am on 3rd. Watch out kedge.

3rd  Usual routine. General leave from 1pm till 6am 4th. Prepared for coaling.

4th  Coaled ship 100 tons. Cleaned ship. Special leave.

5th  General Quarters. Special covers leave,  1.30 till 6am on steaming.

6th  Saturdays routine. Prepared for sea. Turned in boats. Left Karachi at 4 pm for Bombay with HMS Naiad. Carried out three pounder & cannon tube night firing. Exercised night Quarters.

7th  Sundays routine. Divine Service held.

8th  General quarters. Fired Three Pounders & cannon tube. Turned out boats. Arrived in Bombay. Special leave.

9th Usual routine. HMS Naiad entered RIM Docks. Special leave.

10th Usual routine General leave to the watch 24 hours.

11th  Usual routine. General leave to watch, 24 hrs.

12th  Mail arrived. Party started muscle drill preparing for rifle practice. Expecting monsoon to break all day. At 8pm Monsoon broke in Bombay. Terrific winds from inland followed by fearful thunderstorm. Sea rough. Monsoon lasting all night, all yachts left harbour for monsoon weather.

13th  Saturdays routine. Weather having moderated. Mail left P&O SS India. Monsoon again broke at 6pm. Heavy seas and wind blowing from seaward. Heavy storms.

14th  Sunday. Divine Service held. Heavy rain & wind all day. Storms all night.

15th  Morning started with monsoon in full force. Court Martial held on board Perseus.

16th  Usual routine. Weather too bad for range parties to land. Heavy rain & winds. Turned in boats, preparing to enter basin.

17th  Usual routine during forenoon. At 1.30pm slipped moorings and proceeded into basin in Princes Dock, it not being advisable for ships to make a stay long in the harbour during the monsoon. Weather today moderate, General Leave.

18th  Usual routine Range party landed for Colaba 1pm. Gen leave. Weather very wet, heavy storms.

Time up till 6th July employed refitting & on 5th July Naiad went into the stream. Perseus went into Royal Indian Marine Dockyard. Ship’s Company to live in the Royal Alfred’s Sailors Home while ship is in dock. Good times in the home. Perseus moved into the basin on 21st. Monsoon in full force now in Bombay. Rain & strong gales every day. Perseus went into the stream on 30th & left for Colombo

31st  Invalided. P&O’s Peninsular to London via P&O’s Australia from Aden to Tilbury Docks. 360 rupees passage.



The diary ends at this point.

The only other entries in the diary are a few addresses presumably where A. Barker lived, stayed or had friends or relatives.

An address at:
“Berkbeck Road” & “Wakefield Road” & “Queens Road, Battersea” & “Perry Road, Liverpool Road, Canning Town”