Fonds consists of the personal and professional papers of Lieutenant Commander James D. Laurie. Includes his cadet second class graduation diploma, naval appointments, and orders, certificates, letters of references, and correspondence, dating from 1913 to 1949 as well as documents and correspondence related to insurance policy, pension payments, and adjustments, dating from 1933 to 1958. Also includes a handwritten letter and envelope recovered by divers from the wreck of SS Empress of Ireland, a Christmas card with a picture of an unidentified military band, and a photo album that should contain approximately 100 negatives of pictures taken during a cruise of HMS Berwick from February 1913 to February 1914 but, as of May 2016, all the negatives are missing.
Also includes a journal and note book for the use of junior officers, kept by Midshipman Laurie on HMS Niobe beginning 27 August 1914. The journal includes some coloured detail drawings of ship parts and the dust jacket is actually a map folded over the cover.
Sans titre