The file is concerned with the operational requirements of the Whitton Lightships. This includes: general correspondence (including reports of injuries to crew members) between the Lightship Master of the Upper Whitton Lightship, and the Engineer to the Humber Conservancy Board (Arthur Ernest Butterfield); monthly postcards from the Lightship Master (Robert Hope) to the Engineer to the Humber Conservancy reporting paraffin usage and stock aboard the Upper Whitton Lightship; and log sheets from various Whitton Lightships.

The file also includes returns from the Upper Whitton Lightship for a number of forms: 'Stores in Stock' (Form B), 'Stores Received' (Form C), and 'Stores Required' (Form A). Furthermore, copies of notices to mariners announcing alterations to the positions of the lightships on the Upper Humber have also been filed within.

Further correspondence in the file, dated March 1909, is concerned with a crisis connected with the Lower and Middle Whitton Lightships which led to the crews of these vessels handing in notices to terminate their employment.