Included is a logbook/scrapbook kept by Henry A. Phelon (1831-1902) who served as an acting Master in the Union Navy (1862-1865) during the Civil War. Orders, holograph letters, dispatches, handwritten copies of documents, and newspaper clippings glued into this scrapbook chronicle his wartime service under Rear Admiral Samuel P. Lee with the Blockading Squadron off the coasts of Virginia and North Carolina on the U.S. Steamers Shawsheen, Monticello, and Daylight, and U.S. Ironclad Steamers Canonicus and Atlanta. Later clippings (through 1900) and documents pertain to his post-war years, most of which was spent in West Springfield, Massachusetts.
A journal (1/19 – 6/29/1859) written by Augustus M. Handley, a young British Army officer in the 19th Regiment of Foot, of a voyage from Gravesend, England, to Calcutta, India, aboard the sailing ship H.M.S. Bucton Castle with Captain Moorsom commanding. The journal contains a detailed description of daily life aboard the Bucton Castle, including various personalities on board, daily activities, an explanation of the ship's time-keeping, a drawing of the ship with parts labeled, notes on the how-to of navigation, changing weather conditions, sea conditions, and meetings with the various ships along the way.
This collection contains a journal (December 15, 1861-April 15, 1865) kept by Isaac Liscomb, Master (Commander) of the U.S. Brig Dragoon. Dragoon was a private merchant vessel (formerly called the Remington) leased or purchased by the Union Army for use in the Civil War. As part of General Burnside's fleet, the Dragoon was involved in the Battle of Roanoke Island. Liscomb kept detailed accounts of that battle and of the voyages the ship made during the Civil War to transport troops and supplies to ports including Port Royal and Folly Island (SC), Pensacola (FL), and Morehead City (NC).