Captain William L. Hudson was commander of the US ship Peacock, one of the vessels of the United States Exploring Expedition to the Pacific, 1838-42, commanded by Commodore Charles Wilkes. He later transferred his flag to the Porpoise.

The journal begins when the expedition was en route from Fiji to Honolulu, and gives an account of the PEACOCK's visits to the Hawaiian Islands, Oregon, Southern California, the Line, Phoenix and Tokelau Islands, Samoa, the Ellice and Gilbert Islands (Tuvalu and Kiribati), and the wreck of the PEACOCK at the mouth of the Columbia River on the west coast of North America. After Hudson had transferred his flag to the USS PORPOISE, he crossed the Pacific to the Philippines, Sooloo Islands and Singapore. (The journal is a continuation of that filmed as PMB 146, which covers the Expedition's activities from 20 August 1838 to 8 August 1840)

Captain Fowler went to the Pacific in 1868 as captain of the London Missionary Society vessel JOHN WILLIAMS III. He was dismissed in 1871 because of his treatment of Pacific Islanders. The logbook begins on 12 November 1868 when Captain Fowler left London. It continues to 25 February 1869 when the JOHN WILLIAMS III passed Jervis Bay, NSW. It resumes on 30 March 1869 when the JOHN WILLIAMS III left Sydney for a cruise to the Pacific Islands, which extended to Tahiti, back to the New Hebrides (Vanuatu) and then to Raiatea before returning to Sydney on 31 December 1869. The cruise took in Raiatea, Tahaa, Huahine, Tahiti, Mangaia, Rarotonga, Aitutaki, Niue, Pago Pago, Apia, Aneityum, Mare, Lifu, Uvea, Tubuai and Savai'i. The logbook resumes again on 4 April 1870 when the JOHN WILLIAMS III was at Huahine. Subsequent calls were made at Raiatea, Tahiti, Mangaia, Rarotonga, Aitutaki, Manihiki, Rakahanga, Pukapuka, Mitiaro, Mauke, Atiu, Tutuila, Niue, the Tokelau, Ellice (Tuvalu) and Gilbert Islands (Kiribati), the southern New Hebrides and the Loyalty Islands. The JOHN WILLIAMS III returned to Sydney on 20 December 1870. Captain Fowler returned to England in 1871 in the ship BUCKLEY CASTLE.

Dr George Alexander Turner (son of the Rev. Dr George Turner, author of 'Samoa A Hundred Years Ago and Long Before', London, 1884) was a medical missionary in Samoa from 1868 to 1879.

The journal describes two voyages through the Tokelau, Ellice and Gilbert Groups (Tuvalu and Kiribati) in the mission ship John Williams. The first voyage was from 26 May to 2 August 1874; and the second from 11 May to 21 July 1878. Much of the material is on mission matters, with occasional reference to matters of more general interest. See also the Bureau's newsletter Pambu January-March 1971:22, pp.1-6.