The letters contain detailed descriptions of countries and people, a detailed account of a double murder at the opera in Trieste, and descriptions of Naval battles (mainly second-hand accounts). In the letters [John Frederick Rix] describes his experiences of the landscape, history and people of Cagliaria (Sardinia), Messina, Old and New Ragusa and Syracuse (Siciliy), Corfu, La Bocca di Cattaro (Montenegro), Trieste (including detailed descriptions of the coffee houses), Grätz and Vienna, Venice and Malta. He also gives his impressions of Turkish, Russian, French, German and Spanish people and culture. Additionally, the volume mentions other British surgeons working for the Russian Navy and British Royal Navy. These are Nathan Cox (on the Uriil from Nov. 1805–Sept. 1807), Mr Holbroke (on a Turkish prize boat [“Sedtte Bahahr”?] captured by the Russian Navy, c. 1807); Robert Cupples (Assistant Surgeon on H.M.S. Repulse until 11 Jan. 1806, Surgeon on the H.M.S. Herald), James Hall (on the Uriil from Portsmouth, and Acting Assistant Surgeon/First Surgeon’s Assistant on H.M.S. Repulse from 5 Oct. 1807). The Uriil was part of a Russian squadron that was fitted out at Kronshtadt, Russia, then anchored at Portsmouth in September 1805 on the way to the Mediterranean to complete stores and “make such other improvements as might be suggested by the English”. [Frederick John Rix] joined the Uriil at Portsmouth after answering an advertisement for English surgeons and assistants. He was ordered on board on the 27 Nov. 1805 and the ship left Portsmouth on the 28th. The Uriil sailed to the Mediterranean and was involved in battles against the Turkish forces in April and July 1807. In April 1808 Rix and Mr Holbroke (an English surgeon on a Turkish boat captured by the Russians in battle) left the Russian squadron at Trieste after hearing that relations between Russia and Britain were cooling. The British consul in Trieste (Edward Stanley) helped them to get passage on a Maltese Merchant vessel to Malta, which left Trieste on 27th April. They arrived in Malta on the 10 May 1808. Once in Malta, Rix joined the British Navy as a means to get passage home. He first accepted an appointment as Assistant Surgeon on the H.M.S. Herald, with the surgeon Mr Robert Cupples. 12 days after joining the Herald, whilst off the coast of Toulon, Rix was ordered onto the H.M.S. Ocean (Lord Collingwood’s ship) where he received an appointment to the H.M.S. Repulse as an Assistant Surgeon. Rix found that his friend that he had met on the Uriil, James Hall, was the First Surgeon’s Assistant. In the volume the date that Rix joined the Repulse is given as the 6th of June 1808, but ship’s log books (in the National Archives) state that he joined the Repulse on the 7th of May. It seems likely that the 7th of May is the correct date, as Rix writes that the Repulse was blockading Toulon (so he had little to communicate about their movements) and that they arrived in Gibraltar on the 8th June. Lord Collingwood (on H. M. S. Ocean) ordered H. M. S. Repulse to sail to Gibraltar with his fleet, where they arrived on 8 June 1808. The fleet then sailed on to Cadiz where they arrived on the 11 June (Rix’s letter from Cadiz describes the Spanish rebellion). H.M.S. Repulse set sail for Portsmouth from Gibraltar on 15 September 1808, and arrived 15 October 1808. According to the Repulse’s log books Frederick John Rix was discharged from the Navy on the 20 Nov. 1808.