Diary of Ichabod Barstow Peterson

1859 travel diary relating Peterson's experiences as mate on board the ship Garnet, traveling with a racially integrated crew in the years just before the Civil War. Includes details on his voyages to Savannah, Ga.; Liverpool, England; back to Savannah; to New Orleans, La., where the African American crew members were forced to remain in jail during their stay there; back to Liverpool; and finally to San Francisco, Calif. Peterson relates incidents regarding the lax discipline of the crew of the Garnet, the weather and its effects on him, shipboard life and work, and introspective musings about Peterson himself, his family, nature, and religion, all in a clear, direct, sometimes eloquent style.