This survey of the Royal Navy as it was in March 1767 was prepared by Sir Thomas Slade, architect of HMS Victory and surveyor of the Navy from 1755 to 1771. It was sent to the secretary of the Admiralty Philip Stephens in June 1767.
The book lists each ship in the Royal Navy detailing size, tonnage, number of guns, date of construction and brief information about whether the vessel was at sea, a guard ship, in dock or under repair. Several ships listed were still under construction at the time the survey was taken and their statistics are recorded in red ink.