Series I. Clifford Crowninshield Papers is comprised of ships papers, correspondence, letterbooks, account books, estate papers, and legal papers associated with this successful Salem merchant and ship master. The majority of the ships papers are related to the voyage of ship George in 1795. This vessel sailed from Boston on a voyage to the East Indies, arriving in Djakarta (Batacia) in 1796. There he sold his outward cargo and sent the vessel home under Ebenezer Slocum. Crowninshield then purchased the ship West Chapelle from the Dutch East India Company and renamed her George. This ship George was captured by the British ship L'Oiseau and taken to the Cape of Good Hope and later London. Crowninshield was soon set free, but the ship, its crew and its cargo were held in London.

The papers of ship George include the outward voyage of the Boston vessel and the inward voyage of the former Dutch East India Company ship. A wide variety of depositions, transcripts, and legal papers document the intense negotiations regarding the release of the vessel and damages for stolen cargo. A series of letters from Job W. Hall (left in command of the ship) describe the tribulations of the crew until their release in the spring of 1798. The ship's account book (1795-1796) is almost entirely made up of accounts from the crew's wages. The balance of the ships' papers contains little evidence of Crowninshield's shipping career. However, the various account books, ledgers and day books provide more detail on his shipping activities, as well as information on personal and business affairs.

Correspondence includes a large group of letters from John Murphy regarding the George/West Chappelle incident. A letter from John Ives in Senegal (September 25, 1807) contains a brief reference to the arrivals of slave ships at that port. The invoice/account book contains instructions and accounts for schooners St. John, Molly, and Eagle, and ship Ceres. A day book (1784-1789) mostly concerns personal matters but also holds some accounts for Clifford Crowninshield's (1699-1776) estates. Another day book (1795-1799, 1821-1831) contains accounts for ship Osprey, apparently kept by Nicholas Devereux.

Clifford Crowninshield's (1762-1809) estate papers include correspondence with executors James Devereux and John Moriarty, and deeds that also concern the estates of Crowninshield's forebears. Ships papers dated after 1809 (see Appendix I) relate to spoliation claims settled posthumously and therefore should be consulted in relation to Crowninshield's estate.