A SWASHBUCKLING tale of how a Wiltshire naval officer battled pirates and fought Burmese insurgents who were rebelling against the British Empire has been revealed by new documents acquired by the Wiltshire and Swindon Record Office.

Two notebooks and a logbook have been given to the Record Office by a Canadian descendant of Captain Louis Charles Henry Tonge who compiled the books.

The first, which dates from around 1839-1840, is entitled the The Young Artillerest and chronicles the period when Captain Tonge, whose family lived in Highway near Calne, was being trained as a gunnery officer on board HMS Excellent.

The notebook features drawings of various ships from the period and details of ship guns, including cross-sections of the great gun on board HMS Excellent.

It also contains details of gunnery lessons and naval cutlass exercises.

A second notebook, from around 1850, contains further details of crews and drills on board one of the ships Captain Tonge served on.

The third, a naval journal or logbook from 1853-1854, reveals clashes with pirates in the Far East at the height of British imperial power.

Captain Tonge was working as a gunnery officer on board HMS Winchester at the time. The ship travelled all over the Far East, from Rangoon to Madras, Singapore, Borneo and Hong Kong. During this period, Captain Tonge's crew pursued pirate ships, which were preying on other shipping.

The pursuit took HMS Winchester along the south coast of China and up the Pearl River towards Canton.

The logbook also contains a detailed account of an 1853 encounter in the Irrawaady River area of Burma with Burmese insurgents fighting British power.

Principal archivist for Wiltshire County Council, John d'Arcy, said the notes were fascinating. "These archives shed light on the life of a naval gunnery officer during the Victorian era, when the British Empire was at the height of its power," he said.

"The earliest book gives a fascinating account of how naval recruits and gunners were trained.

"The final book is a thrilling journal recording the adventures of a ship on active service at the heart of the British Empire and its trade routes and describing encounters with pirates and Burmese rebels."

The archives can be seen at the Record Office in Bythesea Road, Trowbridge.