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The A. T. Byrens journal, dating from December 1844 to August 1845, regards the voyage of the US Sloop Jamestown from Norfolk, Virginia, to Africa, and its subsequent patrol of the West African coast.

The A. T. Byrens journal, dating from December 1844 to August 1845, regards the voyage of the US Sloop Jamestown from Norfolk, Virginia, to Africa and its subsequent patrol of the West African coast (under the command of Robert B. Cunningham).

The journal includes a list of the officers assigned for the voyage and the US Sloop Jamestown's dimensions. Byrens documented the daily activities of the crew, weather, visits from naval figures, and arrivals of various ships while they waited to depart Norfolk. They went to sea January 26, 1845, and Byrens commenced a sea log, recording weather, sailing details, and meteorological and navigational data. They harbored at Porto Praya, Cape Verde, on February 17 to resupply, and Commodore Matthew C. Perry (1794-1858) visited the ship before they continued on to Cape Mesurado.

On March 3, a group of Krumen served on the coast at Cape Mesurado and Commander Cunningham debarked to visit the "Governor of Monrovia," likely Joseph Jenkins Roberts (1809-1876). Stopping at Cape Palmas on March 14, Governor John Brown Russworm (1799-1851) and a "Chief of the Native Tribes on the cape" visited the Jamestown. Byrens recorded other African political figures' visits to the ship, including King Freeman when they stopped at Half Cavalley, Governor Roberts when they returned to Mesurado, and an unnamed "Governor of the Island" when they harbored at Porto Grande.

Throughout the journal, Byrens documented the places the ship harbored, including Porto Praya, Funchal, Palmas, and Porto Grande. As the Jamestown sailed along the African coast, Byrens also noted American, British, French, Danish, Spanish, and Portuguese vessels, and Africans travelling in canoes up to the ship. He made references to the punishment of crew members and the transfer of several Krumen to his ship, mentioning the later death of one of their number, "Jack Musquito." Byrens also recorded that the Jamestown fired "minuit guns as a tribute of respect to the memory of Andrew Jackson Ex President of the United States who died at his residence in Tennessee" (August 11, 1845). The journal closes with references to a court martial aboard the US Ship Yorktown at Porto Grande before Byrens, ill, was sent back to America.

The Charles W. Morgan general order book contains 57 orders (33 pages) that Morgan issued to the United States Navy Mediterranean Squadron on November 20, 1841, and April 11, 1842. The orders pertain primarily to officers' duties and conduct and to logistical issues.

The Charles W. Morgan general order book contains 57 orders (33 pages) that Morgan issued to the United States Navy's Mediterranean Squadron on November 20, 1841, and April 11, 1842. The orders pertain primarily to officers' duties and conduct, and to logistical issues.

The orders, issued at Port Mahon, Minorca, follow a 2-page introduction that states the necessity of discipline within the navy. Some guidelines pertain to the frequency of muster rolls, returns, financial records, and other reports; inspections of ships, guns, and handheld weapons; and regular training exercises. Many orders concern the health and conduct of officers and crew, including procedures for admitting the sick or infirm to a naval hospital. Morgan provided instructions for officers' conduct while on shore leave and forbade any sailor from discussing the fleet's movements with unauthorized individuals. One order contains a list of salutes (order 30, pp. 14-15), and others call for the establishment of shipboard schools for midshipmen (order 49, pp. 27-28) and boys (order 51, p. 29). The final order prohibits crews and officers from presenting swords or other acknowledgments to commanding officers (order 57, pp. 32-33).

The HMS Levant and HMS Arethusa log book contains daily records about the weather, navigation, and incidences that occurred during the commissions of both ships while sailing in the Mediterranean and the English Channel.

This vellum-bound log book (15cm x 19cm) contains 259 pages of tabular data respecting voyages of the HMS Levant (1775-1776, 223 pages) and, beginning in the back of the volume, the HMS Arethusa (1777, 36 pages). Additional pages in the volume are either blank, or contain empty tables. The flyleaf is inscribed with the name of William Browell and with the names of the two ships and their commanders. The flyleaf also includes a pen-and-ink drawing of a man wearing a formal headdress or hairstyle, with curls above the ear and a single ponytail at the nape of the neck.

The HMS Levant and HMS Arethusa log book contains a daily record of locations, movements, sails, surroundings, weather, discipline, and out-of-the-ordinary occurrences. The log keeper recorded data in tables with columns marked "H" (the hour of the day), "K" (speed in knots), "F" (depth of the water in fathoms), "Courses," "Winds," and the date. Details about the positioning of sails, winds, and directional courses are included. Crew discipline is mentioned throughout the text, which involved floggings for reasons of insolence, drunkenness, going ashore without leave, fighting, and neglect of duty.

HMS Levant

The HMS Levantlog book spans approximately the first year and a half of the American War of Independence, beginning on Friday, June 23, 1775, and ending on Sunday November 24, 1776. In addition to regular data, the book documents navigational coordinates and landmarks from the ship's travels in the English Channel, North Atlantic Ocean, and Mediterranean Sea, and along the coasts and surrounding islands of England, Portugal, Spain, France, Algeria, and Italy. Noteworthy locations sighted or visited by the Levant include Lizard Point, the Scilly Islands, Lisbon, Cádiz, Gibraltar Bay, Majorca, Marseilles, Sardinia, the Bay of Naples, and Algiers.

From the commencement of the ship's voyage in June until late September, the ship traveled as part of the Mediterranean fleet under the command of Rear Admiral Robert Mann. The Levant log book contains references to Mann's flagship, theMedway, the Royal Oak (under Captain Peter Parker), the Enterprise, the Exeter, the Worcester, the Alarm, and the Zephyr. Early entries of the log book contain some description of pursuing and halting ships from England and America (one from Pennsylvania and one from Maryland). Other ships encountered by the Levant hailed from Amsterdam, Genoa, Martinique, Cádiz, Jamaica, and Antigua. The author also described exercising the ship's guns and practicing tactical fleet formations (forming a line of battle abreast, a line of battle ahead, and the bow and quarter).

On July 13, 1775, the ship's foremast was damaged near the Scilly lighthouse, but was repaired in Gibraltar Bay the following month.

Interactions with other ships, both friend and foe, occur regularly throughout the log. On March 7, 1776, while sailing in Algiers Bay, the sighting of a Dutch Man-of-War was reported: "Sail'd hence the Dutch man of war the garison saluted Capt. Murray with 5 guns at is going on shore, we return'd an equal number. Sent the slaves on shore." The crew of the Levant also encountered the Dey of Algiers who "sent onboard as a Present 3 live Bullocks of sheep with bread & Vegetables to the ship comp'y." (March 7, 1776).

From October 27, 1776 until November 15, 1776 the Levant traveled as part of a convoy with at least three vessels, including the sloop Neptune, theCharles, and theHope. The writer recorded the seizure of an American ship, the Argo, on November 18, 1776. After indicating that a sail was spotted to the southwest, the HMS Levant "spoke the chase and found her to be American ship from Charles Town bound to Bordeaux. Loaded with rices and indigo. Hoisted the boat out and sent it on board of her with the 2nd Lieut who immediately took command of her as a prize."

HMS Arethusa

The HMS Arethusa log book was kept between March 23, 1777 and June 3, 1777. Beginning its journey near Belém Tower in Lisbon, the Arethusa sailed through Cape Roxant and past the Isle of Portland. The volume covers the ship's travels along southern England with a convoy to Spithead Harbour, where the ship remained anchored between April 15, 1777 and May 19, 1777. During its time in harbor, the Arethusa underwent repairs, and its decks were washed in hot vinegar and smoked with charcoal, tobacco, and tar almost daily.

The Arethusa encountered other ships during this time, most of them British. They included the Romney, a ship of the line under Vice Admiral John Montagu, the privateer Terrible, the sloop Hawke, the Centaur, the Invincible, the Brilliant, the Resolution, and the Cameleon. On, April 7, the Arethusa encountered a Dutch ship, and on March 24, a Spanish battle ship.

The Hubert S. Smith Naval Letters and Documents collection is made up of individual manuscripts relating to naval and commercial maritime operations.

The Hubert S. Smith Naval Letters and Documents collection is made up of over 380 manuscript letters and documents relating to maritime military, commercial, financial, and legal subjects from the 15th to the 20th centuries, primarily concerning Great Britain and America. The collection includes materials relating to Continental European wars, the American Revolution, the African slave trade, the Civil War, and exploratory ventures. The collection also reflects day-to-day ship operations and naval employment, diplomacy, marine technology, the purchase and sale of ships, insurance, and publications and books relating to maritime affairs. While primarily focused on English and American navies, the contributors discuss a wide variety of places, including continental Europe, the Baltic region, Russia, Asia, Turkey, South America, and Africa.

The John Tapson journal is a detailed record of a junior officer's service in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic War and the War of 1812.

The journal of Captain's Clerk and Purser, John Tapson, is an outstanding record of a junior officer's service in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic War. Probably a copy made in later years, the journal is a highly literate, occasionally witty journey through the Napoleonic naval war, providing a view of life aboard a Royal Navy ship that may be slightly sanitized, but nevertheless very revealing. There are particularly important descriptions of the near mutiny of the frigate Africaine, the operations along the Spanish coast during the late summer, 1808, and the Neapolitan coast in the late spring, 1809, and of the capture and rescue of the crew of the Africaine in Mauritius, in the fall, 1810.

Though they are less dramatic, Tapson's journal entries from August, 1811, through December, 1814, are no less valuable. Cruising the waters of Sri Lanka, India, and Indonesia, with a side journey to Iraq, Tapson includes some excellent descriptions of English and Dutch colonial outposts in South Asia and the East Indies. A calm air of British superiority and authority over native and rival colonial powers, alike, exudes from Tapson's descriptions of Ceylon and Madras, and particularly in his depictions of interactions with the Portuguese, Dutch and natives in the eastern Indonesian islands.

The collection consists of letters and essays submitted to the editor of the United Service Journal for publication, principally regarding British naval and military matters.

The collection consists of letters and essays submitted to the editor of the United Service Journal for publication, principally regarding British naval and military matters. Topics range from naval architecture, technology, and weaponry, to histories of naval and specific military engagements and defenses of individual persons. The letters also regard such matters as the recovery of the HMS Thetis off the Brazilian coast, charities and education efforts, discipline, piracy, officer promotions, and military mortality in Canada. Several letters reference disagreements over articles published in the United Service Journal.

This collection includes two journals kept by Midshipman Thomas Style while on separate patrols with the HMS Révolutionnaire, under Captain Henry Hotham.

This collection includes two journals kept by Midshipman Thomas Style while on separate patrols with the HMS Révolutionnaire, under Captain Henry Hotham (1777-1833).

The first journal (64 pages) covers tours of the HMS Révolutionnaire from April 16, 1804, through November 11, 1804. Style provided daily logs of the crew's activities and ship movements as they made multiple patrols. He recorded work performed at Portsmouth, Spithead, St. Helen's, and Cork, to maintain the ship and assemble crews for their voyage. The HMS Révolutionnaire departed on June 26, 1804, and patrolled along the Portuguese coast, returning to Spithead on August 15, 1804, carrying with them Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex (1773-1843). Departing again on September 5, the crew continued to patrol the coast of Spain and Funchal, Madeira. They then made a transatlantic voyage, mooring at Hampton Roads, Virginia, in November 1804. Throughout the journal Style noted punishments doled out to sailors for various offences, weather, navigational and sailing details, and sightings of other British navy and mercantile ships. He logged ships they encountered and boarded and noted their ports of departure and arrival, including Denmark, Sweden, Portugal, Spain, England, the Caribbean, and the United States.

The second journal (76 pages) covers the HMS Révolutionnaire's patrols from July 1, 1805 to March 18, 1806, commencing as the ship passed near Lizard Point, England. Much like the first journal, Style recorded weather and navigational bearings, ship maintenance, discipline meted out to sailors, and ships encountered and boarded. The Révolutionnaire sailed along the French coast before returning to Plymouth on August 21. They set sail again on September 4 to patrol the French and Spanish coasts. Style mentioned privateers and the capture of prizes. He also described the Battle of Cape Ortegal between the English squadron and four French ships on November 4 and 5, 1805, with the Révolutionnaire and the Phoenix taking possession of the French ship Scipion. They took the prizes and prisoners back to Plymouth on November 10 before heading out nine days later to reconnoiter the enemy's position at Ferrol, Spain, the and patrol the coasts of France, Spain, and Portugal. They returned to Plymouth on March 9, 1806. Style disciplined several men for "concealing mutinous Practices & Designs" and two others for writing a disrespectful letter to the Commissioners of the Admiralty concerning Captain Henry Hotham.

The US Frigate Potomac collection is made up of a letter book and logbook concerning the ship's service along the Atlantic coast, in the Gulf of Mexico, and in the Caribbean in the mid-1840s. The letter book contains correspondence between Captain John Gwinn and various navy officials from 1844-1847, and the log chronicles daily incidents onboard the Potomac from 1844-1845.

The US Frigate Potomac collection is made up of a letter book and log book concerning the ship's service along the Atlantic coast, in the Gulf of Mexico, and in the Caribbean in the mid-1840s.

The Letter Book contains 107 pages of copied outgoing letters that John Gwinn wrote to various United States Navy personnel, such as Secretaries of the Navy John Y. Mason and George Bancroft, from October 11, 1844-December 29, 1847 (primarily in 1844 and 1845). The first letter is a copy of the Navy Department's official order for Gwinn to assume command of the Potomac, and the remaining letters pertain to the ship's service along the Atlantic coast, in the Gulf of Mexico, and in the Caribbean. Gwinn discussed the ship's movements, personnel, and maintenance. Many letters concern a leak sustained by the Potomac and its repair, and another group of letters addresses Gwinn's concern about possible cases of yellow fever on another ship. Gwinn wrote far less frequently after the Potomac's arrival at the Gosport Shipyard in December 1846, and his later correspondence includes a lengthy letter from Philadelphia with his opinions regarding possible improvements to the Pensacola Navy Yard (February 2, 1846). A letter by Gwinn dated July 3, 1847, is laid into the volume's back pages, alongside a transcription written directly into the book.

The Potomac's Journal (198 pages) is a log of the ship's movements and incidents onboard, with daily entries covering October 16, 1844-December 17, 1845. Entries written while the Potomac was at sea include charts with hourly records of the ship's course and wind direction, and every entry has prose remarks, often concerning weather conditions. The remarks also address issues such as activities at various ports, encounters with other ships, rations and cargo, and crew discipline and deaths. This log was compiled while the Potomac visited ports such as Norfolk, Pensacola, Port Royal, Port-au-Prince, Havana, and Veracruz. The final entry was written as the ship entered dry dock at the Gosport Shipyard. Two sheets of blotting paper are laid into the volume.