Scope and Contents The collection consists primarily of business letters and records retained by William Graves, Jr., in the course of managing his shipping interests after his retirement from the sea (1847). There are some 330 letters, 1850 to 1875, mostly directed to Graves (accompanied by a few retained copies of letters written by him). Much of this correspondence relates to the affairs of the ships George West, Castilian, and Josiah L. Hale. Many were written by the masters of these ships, who functioned...