This is a collection of correspondence, accounts, logbooks, notebooks, shipping documents, home remedies for ailments and diseases, etc. Topics include Gilderdale's command of the bark PERU on a whaling and sealing voyage to the South Shetland Islands, the steamships EUTERPE and GENERAL SEDGEWICK, and the ship MARY AND SUSAN; his Civil War service in the U.S. Navy on board the U.S.S. ADOLPH HUGEL, ARLETTA, COMMODORE READ, and YANKEE; and flags and signals.

The collection contains papers relevant to the JULIUS CAESAR's 1836-1837 whaling voyage from New London to the south Atlantic grounds. Included are Articles of Agreement, Bill of Health, Manifest, a slop book, crew bills, and accounts, outfitting accounts with N. & W. W. Billings, and notebook for "oil delivered," casks, and labor.