This collection assembled by L.F. Middlebrook is comprised of port and customs papers, miscellaneous bills, and foreign clearance documents for vessels engaged in the rum and molasses trade from Middletown to the West Indies. Items are organized by vessel name, and ten vessels are represented.

The George W. Dow Papers include accounts, bills, receipts, charter-parties, clearance and protection papers, port regulations, crew lists and shipping orders. Most of this material is relevant to the brig WENONAH, which carried coal, lead, flour, molasses, and other foodstuffs to ports in the U.S., West Indies, Canary Islands, and to Cadiz, Spain.

The John Turner Collection contains nine letters, five of which Turner wrote to his wife, Polly, and four of which concern business matters. Included also are bills of lading, insurance policies, cargo manifests, orders, personal accounts, convoy instructions, and customs documentation including enrollments, receipts, and clearance papers.

Records from the vessel's last whaling voyage, sailing out of New Bedford, Mass, mastered by Joseph Thompson, on a voyage to the South Atlantic, including papers relating to crew desertions, discharges and additions, repair of the windlass, and the survey, condemning, and sale of the ship in the Seychelles.