Journal kept by Dobbie while in command of the wooden paddle sloop HMS BUZZARD (1849) on the North America and West Indies station, covering the period 12 May 1854 to 7 July 1856. The journal starts with the departure of the BUZZARD from Halifax for the Newfoundland fisheries and finishes with her return to Plymouth for paying off.

The journal includes daily records of position, pressure, temperature, winds, weather and port or destination. There is a record of the death of Paymaster Edward Newell Harrison on 1 December 1854 while the BUZZARD was at Cumberland Harbour or Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. See the Harrison collection (HRR prefix) for more archive material relating to this individual.