Louis J. Sands Journal, 1856-1857, circa 18971 vol., 29 cm., 151 leaves, with 304 pages of entries in the author's hand; 1 tintype, 3 ink drawings, 3 pencil drawings, and 2 prints bound or tipped in; 1 newspaper clipping laid in. A personal journal recording the experiences of Captain's Secretary Louis J. Sands of the U. S. steam frigate Susquehanna, on a two-year voyage to the Caribbean Basin, the Mediterranean, and Great Britain. Sands (b. 1836), a New Yorker of notable family, gained his post when a cousin, Joshua Rattoon Sands, was made Susquehanna's captain. After a "special service" to Nicaragua (then controlled by the American William Walker) in May-June 1856, Susquehanna crossed the Atlantic and, for ten months, toured the Mediterranean as flagship of the Navy's Mediterranean Squadron. She then made for the British Isles (May-September 1857), where she was attached to the "cable fleet" seeking to lay the first transatlantic telegraph cable. After a second stay in the Mediterranean Susquehanna re-crossed the Atlantic and returned to Nicaragua, where her crew engaged in a successful up-river expedition against Walker and his "filibusters". Sands' journal totals around 90,000 words, and includes regular entries ranging from 10 April 1856 (before Susquehanna embarked) to 29 October 1857 (when she was about to re-cross the Atlantic). Most of the entries date from the ship's time on the Mediterranean station, and in Britain. Sands writes extensively of his experiences in Susquehanna's ports of call (Gibraltar, Mahon, Naples, Spezzia, Marseilles, Genoa, Liverpool, Plymouth, and Algiers, among others); of his encounters with American diplomats, European aristocrats, and other notables; and of socializing at the balls, picnics, and soirées he attended in the company of the captain. Around 1897 Sands revisited the journal to make annotations, additions, and corrections, in an easily distinguishable later hand. These include a three-page appendix recounting the end of the voyage (October 1857 to April 1858), including the action against Walker. MSN/EA 8008-1-B.