New evidence uncovered by UK's Met Office has revealed that the world went through a period of global warming in the 1730's that could not have been man-made, as indicated by logs from the ships of Captain Cook and Lord Nelson.

According to a report in The Sun, the Meteorological Office scoured more than 6,000 Royal Navy logs dating from the 1600s.

Maritime historian, Dr Sam Willis said: "Ships officers recorded air pressure, wind strength, air and sea temperatures and other weather conditions. From these records, scientists can build a detailed picture of past weather and climate."

The findings show the world went through a similar period of global warming in the 1730’s that could not have been man-made.

Freak storms like the ones experienced recently also occurred in the 1680's and 1690's.

They were the coldest decades in what is known as the Little Ice Age.

Cook mapped much of the Pacific before he was killed in Hawaii in a clash with the natives in 1779.

Nelson, who maintained his ships' logs himself, covered the Arctic, West Indies, south east Asia and the Mediterranean before his death at the Battle Of Trafalgar off the coast of Spain in 1805.

Other valuable records include those of the East India Company, which controlled much of the trade between Britain and Asia with its ships.

According to Geographer Dr Dennis Wheeler, of Sunderland University, "British archives contain more than 100,000 Royal Navy logbooks from around 1670 to 1850 alone. They are a stunning resource."

"Global warming is a reality, but our data show climate science is complex. It is wrong to take particular events and link them to carbon dioxide emissions. These records will give us a much clearer picture of what is really happening," he added.