The letters were chiefly sent to his parents, William and Sarah Gooch, and to his sweetheart Miss Sally Smithson, but also include a number of letters to his sponsors while studying at Cambridge, and others written to Miss Smithson by Gooch's father. The letters cover the period of Gooch's studies at Caius College, Cambridge; his preparations for the voyage of the Daedalus; and the voyage itself, with descriptions of places and peoples encountered. The final letter from Gooch was written to his parents just days before his death in O'Whyee in 1792 [Mm.6.48: 91-92].