Steward's Weekly Provisions Register

1851-1852
Manuscript Collection #732
Creator(s)
Physical description
0.073 Cubic Feet, 1 item , consisting of an original provisions register.
Preferred Citation
Steward's Weekly Provisions Register (#732), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.
Repository
ECU Manuscript Collection
Access
No restrictions

Register (1851-1852) including correspondence, list of day to day activities, list of activities of provisioner, list of orders supplies to ships, etc.


Scope and arrangement

This collection contains a volume which served as a steward's weekly provisions register for the USS WARREN, a second class sloop-of-war stores ship serving along the west coast of North America; the USS MASSACHUSETTS, a wooden steamer assigned to the Pacific squadron and operating along the west coast of America; and the US Schooner EWING, proximity and class unknown. The roster can be used to study the diet of sailors and the amount of rations they received on a daily basis in the mid-nineteenth century. The register lists the men on board the vessels; and contains records indicating when they drew rations and when they stopped; when men left the ship, whether temporarily or permanently; and when additional men came on board. In this aspect the movement of men on the vessels can be tracked: when they were discharged, deserted, or came on board.

The records for the US Schooner EWING (June 1-August 18, 1851) list day-to-day activities of the purser's clerk with a section totaling all the weekly provisions for that period. The USS MASSACHUSETTS rations record (September 23, 1851-March 31, 1852), in addition to including the day-to-day activity of the provisioner, lists such things as a change in command, extra rations given to men working on the steam engine, and supplies ordered to another ship, the US Schooner BALTIMORE. The records for the USS WARREN (April 15, 1851-March 20, 1852) also include notes on rations increasing due to a working party from the VINCENNES being on board and on the surrender of a deserter (1848) from the LEXINGTON.


Administrative information
Custodial History

October 9, 1996, 1 volume; Provisions register (1851-1852) for US Ship WARREN, US Schooner EWING, and US Ship MASSACHUSETTS. Courtesy of the Special Manuscripts Fund.

Source of acquisition

Gift of Special Manuscripts Fund

Processing information

Encoded by Apex Data Services

Copyright notice

Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law.


Key terms
Corporate Names
Baltimore (Schooner)
Ewing (Schooner)--Registers
Massachusetts (Steamer)--Registers
United States. Navy--Provisioning
Warren (Sloop of war)--Registers
Topical
Ship registers

Container list
Box 1 Folder a USS WARREN Weekly Returns by I. G. Gardner, Purser's Clerk (15 April - 31 May 1851), pp.1-7
Box 1 Folder a USS WARREN Weekly Returns by Henry Quarles, Purser's Clerk (1 June 1851 - 14 Feb. 1852), pp.8 - 44
Box 1 Folder a USS EWING Weekly Returns by Benjamin Ogden, Jr., Purser's Clerk (1 June - 18 Aug. 1851), pp. 45 - 55
Box 1 Folder a USS MASSACHUSETTS Weekly Returns by I. C. Rogers, Purser's Clerk (23 Sept. 1851 - 31 March. 1852), pp. 56 -82
Box 1 Folder a USS WARREN Weekly Returns by Unidentified, Purser's Clerk (15 Feb. - 20 March 1852), pp. 83 - 87
Box 1 Folder a USS EWING Weekly Returns by Unidentified, Purser's Clerk (18 Aug. - 31 Dec. 1851), pp. 88 - 90