Manuscript diary, approximately 370 handwritten pages; approx. 50 blank leaves at rear. 13½x8¼, original reverse calf.

The diary begins November 18, 1848 with a list of officers and sailors on board the U.S.S. Raritan, flag ship of the Home Squadron in the Atlantic, under the command of Captain Benjamin Page and flying the broad pennant of Commodore Jesse Wilkinson and later Commodore Foxhall A. Parker ["Commodore F.A. Parker came aboard. Called all hands to muster and read his orders to assume command of the Home Squadron” 4/6/49]. Bratt’s service on the Raritan continued until May 1, 1850. His daily entries include various ports of call [Norfolk, New York, St. Thomas, Havana, Vera Cruz, Pensacola, St. Pierre, Port Royal, etc.], direction of travel when at sea, daily weather conditions, activities on board and at port, receptions of various dignitaries on board, encounters with other U.S. Naval vessels, etc. Of particular interest are numerous mentions of desertions ["10 of the 2nd cutter’s crew deserted” 4/18/49; “Sold the deserters clothes at auction” 9/18/49], criminal behavior of sailors and the near weekly punishment of offenders. [“George Beatty & John Smith brought on board in chains”, 1/16/49; “Jas. Smith for drunkenness 6 lashes, Wm. Smith for Desertion, 12 do.”, 2/2/49; "Hawkins, Marine 5 lashes for skulking” 6/10/49; "mustered the crew at quarters and read the Articles of War”, 8/5/49; “court martial upon Thos. Warner…sentence as follows…36 lashes with the cat of nine tails” 9/26/49] a burial at sea [“called all hands to bury the dead and committed the body of Wm. Freeland" 5/13/49], a marriage on board [“a party of ladies and gentlemen were in attendance, after service two of the party were married in the cabin by the Rev. Mr. Blake, Chaplain” 1/6/50] While not mentioned in this diary, in September of 1849, the crew of the Raritan, in the form of a letter to Commodore Parker, (later made public by Watson G. Haynes) complained of mistreatment aboard the ship and were instrumental in the abolishment of the practice of flogging aboard U.S. Naval vessels in 1850. In May of 1850 Bratt resigned his commission to the Navy and returned to his family home in Iowa where he would spend the following year before migrating to California in search of gold. [“Rec. letters from my Cal Friends becoming some what excited concerning the Gold Fever” 6/1/50] On his trip to the gold fields he writes of the conditions of the journey, [“roads very bad and food scarce” 4/19/51; “made all necessary arrangements to enter the Indian’s Domain” 9/8/51; “Bryant left & returned to the states with a great many others who had become disinhartin (sic)” 5/27/51; “this day arrived at Fort Laramie” 6/20/51] encounters with others headed west, arrival in the Oregon Territory [“arrived at Oregon City” 9/21/51] and finally in California [“arrived at Yreka” 11/1/51]. Once in the golden state he writes of his search for gold, working various diggings, both his own claims and on hire to others. Failing to strike it rich in California Bratt set sail for the gold rush in Australia [“this day I left Downieville for Australia with little expectation of ever returning…” 3/1/53] and from there to the gold fields of Peru [“went a board of the Boomerang on the 2nd, sailed for Cailou” 11/1/53]. In July of 1854 Bratt returned to California and resumed his hunt for gold, meeting this time with some slight success before abandoning the search for gold for the more stable life as a sheep rancher in Eden Valley, CA. For the next 11 years he describes his activities herding, tending, shearing, breeding, selling livestock for wool and mutton. He makes mention of the difficulties encountered in ranching; weather, theft, bears, etc. [“a bear had been among the sheep, he had killed about 30 head” 1/5/61] In 1865 he leases his ranching operation to his brother and returns to the family homestead in Iowa for approximately one year during which time he takes a bride. [Feb. 22, went to Muscatine, was married”] In October of 1866 he leaves Iowa to return to California via Chicago and New York and by Steamer to San Francisco. In 1867 he resumes his life as a sheep rancher at Eden Valley and in 1882 removes his ranch to Sherwood Valley, CA. In 1888 Bratt again relocates, this time to Big Sandy, Texas. The final entry in the diary is June 17, 1895 “Mrs. Sarah Bratt, wife of Carlos Bratt, died.” The ships log appears to have been recorded on a near daily basis and is signed and declared “examined” in several places by Captain Page, the latter portions of the journal appear to have been written after the fact at numerous dates, transcribed from other daily journals or memory. The later entries are quite short often covering longer periods of time, some being months or an entire year in a single entry.