Consists of a single volume used as a waste or note book in which Gorham recorded, for the most part, financial transactions. In places the book displays some evidence that entries were later copied to ledger books recording the accounts of his ventures and pay of his men and many entries are about payments on accounts rather than direct cash transactions. The book covers activities during the period 1747 to 1750 and includes lists of expenses for recruiting, equipping and provisioning his company of rangers, lists of expenses for the upkeep and provisioning of several ships including the sloop Diligence and the schooners Warren and Anson. For the most part the volume documents the issuance of provisions and supplies to his men recording the distribution of food, clothing and to a lesser extent equipment and goods. Some entries record in the French language transactions with Acadians at Pizaquid (now Windsor, NS) for the provision of fresh meat and goods. Entries for wages paid, sometimes with the signed or marked receipts of his men appear throughout the book.
The start of the book contains many entries related to his establishment on Sable Island, some entered retrospectively from 1747, and other island entries are scattered across the volume. Entries generally record where the activity was happening be it Annapolis Royal, Chebucto (now Halifax,NS), Minas or Boston (MA, USA).
The volume also includes copies of a few letters. One in particular to a Mr Owles, speaks to the recruitment of rangers, the size of companies, some conditions of service and what happens in a peace. Also included in the volume is a crude manuscript map showing houses and names of some families, presumably along a portion of Cape Breton Island, NS – from Cape 'Shebnacada' (Shenacadie) which is a settlement located on the south end of St. Andrew’s Channel to past 'Grand Ance' (Grande Anse) which is on the north side of Lennox Passage. The volume ends with a description by Gorham in a two page entry of a skirmish with Mi'kmaq encountered by his sloop Diligence while sailing along the coastline in August of 1748 from 'Port Mahoan'(Mahone Bay) to 'Cape Porpicom'. (Portapique, Colchester County or Pubnico have been suggested as possible contemporary locations for "Porpicom".)
Gorham, John