Letters from Richard Dering to his brother Henry Thomas and his sisters Elizabeth and Francis discuss a return from the Sandwich Islands, offers of jobs aboard ships, and a description of the Farallones including a possible job at the light house and harvesting duck eggs. He also writes of sending money home, customs and duties for ships, life on board a brig, his brother Henry's death, and the difficulty of finding work. Other topics include not being paid for work he has performed, widespread unemployment, and mining luck. Other letters mention mail and its getting left on the isthmus, a stock farm near Oakland, Sag Harbor and New London friends, sailing to Sacramento, the schooner Ann G. Doyle and his dread of taking more work at sea. Later letters mention operating in the guano business on a small island in lower California (Elide Island) which was owned by Capt. Isham, shipping work, and exploring the Gulf of California.
