Collection consists of a two volumes titled "Journal of a Cruise from Norfolk, Virginia to the Pacific Ocean in the United States Frigate United States, Isaac Hull, Esq'r, Commander" kept by Philadelphian midshipman Lawrence Penington from 4 December 1823, through 22 April 1827. United States was one of six frigates authorized to be constructed by the Naval Act of 1794 and it served as the flagship for Commodore Hull who was head of the American naval squadron on the Pacific Coast of South America. Penington documents navigation statistics, weather reports and daily ship life, along with the larger issues of interaction between the American naval squadron and British, Spanish, Chilean, Colombian and Peruvian naval and military counterparts.
The ship's log of the US Brig Porpoise, dated 19 February 1845 to 16 June 1846, was kept during a cruise from New York to the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. It details navigational statistics, weather reports, sightings and hailing of other ships, and punishments of crew infractions. The author was probably Midshipman Benjamin Lee Henderson and the log was signed in fifteen places by Lt. Commander William E. Hunt.