Many of the documents are concerned with shipping, including memoranda of shipments of goods and delivery notes for goods taken on board ship. There is some correspondence, including a letter from Lyall, Still & Co., agents for the barque 'Marion MacIntyre' to the underwriters and shippers interested in its cargo (which include Jardine, Matheson & Co.), 25 November 1852, informing them that, following the return of the vessel in a disabled state, a considerable portion of its cargo will shortly be sold by auction, and requesting the recipients to communicate any objections they may have to the course purposed; and three letters from H.F. Edwards to F.A. Rangel regarding the sale of California gold coin, 1853-1854, including a memorandum of the net proceeds of the sale of this coin from the 'Moselle' and the sum credited to Jardine, Matheson & Co. in consequence. Other items include a description of the deserters David Dillan, Benjamin Nickles and Risden H. Bishop from the American whale ship 'Ocean', commanded by Edward A. Swift, 11 February 1852; a copy of the inscription on the monument to William Morrison, Colonial Surgeon, who died on 13 October 1853; copies of documents regarding the case of Hermann Schaeffer v Jardine, Matheson & Co., agents of the Alliance Life and Fire Assurance Office, in the Supreme Court of Hong Kong, concerning a dispute over a policy, 1854-1859; a draft of a declaration of trust of leasehold premises in Victoria granted by Samuel Majoribanks of New South Wales to Kenneth McKenzie Kennedy of Scotland, December 1855; and a table of crewmen of the 'Witch of the Seas', including their dates of entry, station, dates of discharge and wages, 1859.