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This collection is made up of correspondence and financial records related to vessels of the United States Revenue Cutter Service, United States Navy, and United States Merchant Marine in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

This collection is made up of correspondence and financial records related to vessels active in the United States Revenue Cutter Service, United States Navy, and United States Merchant Marine in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The materials relate to crews' wages, ships' cargoes and expenses, cutter construction, privateering, and other subjects. See the Detailed Box and Folder Listing for more information about each item.

The donor has collected, arranged, transcribed, and annotated each document and has written a well-researched collection description.

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.

This volume contains logs for the United States Navy ships Constellation (December 1825-April 1827) and John Adams (July 1827-October 1827), kept by Alexander Hamilton Marbury.

This volume contains logs for the United States Navy ships Constellation (December 1825-April 1827) and John Adams (July 1827-October 1827), kept by Alexander Hamilton Marbury. Martha Louisa Marbury contributed a list of musical definitions and a lengthy essay on Greek and Roman history and mythology. Most pages bear traces of plants once laid between the leaves.

The bulk of the volume consists of the log of the ship Constellation from December 1, 1825-April 28, 1827, during its service in the Caribbean Sea under the command of Melancthon Taylor Woolsey and, after mid-February 1827, under Commodore Charles G. Ridgely. Alexander Hamilton Marbury wrote daily entries about the ship's movements, the use of sails, encounters with other vessels, and daily occurrences onboard and in port. While at sea, Marbury included hourly charts of wind direction and the ship's course. The Constellation sailed primarily between the ports of Port Comfort, Havana, Pensacola, Matanzas, and Newark. The log of the John Adams, which contains similar entries, pertains to the ship's Caribbean and Atlantic service under Edward R. Shubrick between July 27, 1827, and October 16, 1827. The ship sailed from and returned to Pensacola; the final entries refer to a trip to Virginia.

The final part of the volume is in the handwriting of Martha Louisa Marbury, who lived in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. She copied a list of Italian musical terms and definitions (2 pages) and wrote a lengthy essay about Greek and Roman history and mythology (28 pages). Some parts of the later essay pages have been removed from the volume.

This log book chronicles the actions of the United States Navy sloop Marion between June 1861 and January 1862. During this time, the Marion was stationed at Key West, Florida; "Ships Island"; and Dog Island, Florida, as part of the Gulf Blockading Squadron. Entries pertain to the ship's movements and sails, crew discipline, and other naval matters.

This log book (106 pages) chronicles the actions of the United States Navy sloop Marion between June 29, 1861, and January 24, 1862. During this time, the Marion was stationed at Key West, Florida; "Ships Island"; and Dog Island, Florida, as part of the Gulf Blockading Squadron. The emph page is signed by Edward A. Pendexter of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and the first few pages of entries are signed by officers including John W. Brown, G. F. Philbrick, W. H. Swaine (or Swain), G. F. Pendleton, and J. W. Philips. The Marion served under the command of William H. Ball (June 29, 1861-September 13, 1861), N[athan] C. Bryant (September 14, 1861-November 7, 1861), and George W. Doty (November 7, 1861-January 24, 1862). The log notes Ball's burial at sea on September 13, 1861.

The Marion's log entries pertain to aspects of daily life onboard the ship, such as the use of sails, crew exercises, and ship and gun maintenance. Some refer to punishments for disrespect, intoxication, and attempted desertion; the affected sailors were often bound in irons. During the Marion's time at sea, the log provides information about the ship's course, winds, the temperature, and barometer readings, reported every few hours. The Marion sometimes encountered other ships, most often Union vessels, and its crew sometimes heard distant gunfire. The log includes at least one mention of a court martial (January 10, 1862). A small piece of paper with brief log entries dated July 27 and August 1 (no year given) is laid into the volume.

This 30-page notebook by William Case Clark of South Kingston, Rhode Island, contains very brief notes on the 1776 British attack on Newport, Rhode Island, a copy of the numbers of soldiers of different ranks killed in the Battle of Bunker Hill, financial accounts for the purchase of foodstuffs in the 1780s, and a weather journal spanning January to May 1775. Clark also copied extracts from the poems "The Ballad of Chevy Chase" and "A New Song Called the Gaspee."

This 30-page notebook by William Case Clark of South Kingston, Rhode Island, contains very brief notes on the 1776 British attack on Newport, Rhode Island, a copy of the numbers of soldiers of different ranks killed in the Battle of Bunker Hill, financial accounts for the purchase of foodstuffs in the 1780s, and a weather journal spanning January to May 1775. Clark also copied extracts from the poems "The Ballad of Chevy Chase" (9 pages) and "A New Song Called the Gaspee" (3 pages).

The final page of the volume bears an illustration of a sailing ship.

The Zaccheus Brown notebook contains information compiled between 1782 and 1783 on arithmetic, sailing and navigation, and surveying, as well as a log of the Phoenix's voyage from New Jersey to the Virgin Islands in 1789. Mathematical and navigational problems are often illustrated with diagrams, and the volume also contains an example of a Mercator chart of the Caribbean.

The Zaccheus Brown notebook (175 pages) contains information on arithmetic, sailing and navigation, and surveying, as well as a log of the Phoenix's voyage from New Jersey to the Virgin Islands in 1789.

The first 112 pages, compiled from 1782-1783, are comprised of information about mathematics and sailing and contain a brief ship's log. Mathematical subjects include square and cube roots, geometry, and plane trigonometry; Brown copied and solved mathematical problems, which are often illustrated with diagrams. Instructions for aiming cannons appear in the section about trigonometry. Brown also described sailing methods such as plane, traverse, oblique, Mercator, parallel, middle latitude, and current sailing, as well writing instructions for turning a ship windward and for determining location. The parts of the volume concerning sailing also contain problems, diagrams, and an example of a "Plane Chart" and "Mercator's Chart." The Mercator's chart shows the locations of islands in the northern Caribbean Sea. The notebook's other subjects include the compass, calculating the phases of the Moon, and the Gregorian calendar. A final section pertains to surveying.

Zaccheus Brown's notebook also contains logs concerning the voyage of the Endeavour (9 pages) and the schooner Phoenix (58 pages). The Endeavour log, attributed to "L. H," notes the ship's journey "from the Cape" in late June and early July 1783. The Phoenix log details Brown's voyage from June 17, 1789-September 1, 1789 from Salem, New Jersey, to the Virgin Islands and back to Virginia. Some of Brown's daily entries about his voyage on the Phoenix include charts recording the ship's course and position, along with additional remarks on wind speed and direction. Brown occasionally discussed other aspects of his voyage, such as the pidgin language spoken by the ship's Dutch crew and his premonitions after bad weather and delays. He also described the port and the island of Saint Thomas, a Dutch colony (currently part of the United States Virgin Islands).

The volume contains illustrations of a man in the sun, a compass rose, and a fish and man; the latter drawings are flourishes on the heading for the section of the book on cube roots. The back endpaper includes a table of angles related to navigation.