The Grand Digital Archive

The Old Admiralty Library—that staggering gateway to a bygone world which archived and catalogued millions of naval records (9) .......... 1892 and 1924—has been converted into a high-tech museum. (10) .......... lain derelict for decades after its decommissioning, the facility’s vast purpose-built halls have been painstakingly restored. It has become a site of intense interest for the descendants of the sailors who navigated its labyrinthine corridors to (11) .......... in registration logs in whatever nautical terminology (12) .......... possessed. To reach the library, one takes a shuttle from the southern quay. (13) .......... you drift past the lighthouse and dock at the entrance of that formidable structure, it is impossible (14) .......... to reflect on (15) .......... imposing it must have seemed to those young recruits who arrived with their sea-chests tied (16) .......... them and their dreams packed into simple canvas bags.