The fonds consists of records retrieved and acquired by John Clarkson. The series of ship plans were acquired while he served as the Nautical Inspector for Transport Canada. These would have been used to help with the inspection of the ships. The correspondence series was retrieved by John Clarkson while he served as the marine examiner and surveyor in Victoria. The correspondence was originally from the Steamship Inspectors Office and contains different forms of correspondence regarding the surveys and inspections of ship that were requisitioned for the second world war before and after. These pertain to the inspection of different vessels that were active along the west coast.
The fonds is arranged into two series:

1. Ship Plans-technical drawings
2. Correspondence-textual records