Amateur botanist and surgeon, U. S. Navy. The journal entries are dated June 20 to Nov. 1, 1826, at the village of Banancas, headquarters for the W. I. Squadron, under L. Warrington, who from 1824-26 commanded a squadron in the West Indies for the suppression of piracy. The craft may have been the U. S. Supply ship Decoy since the first of the journal entries were made on the backs of sheets, printed as forms for the “Report of Sick” on board that ship, with Bassett's name printed at bottom as “Surgeon.”

He records plants, collected and described, with identifications, when he was able to make them, but having access only to the old Linnaean names, they are somewhat difficult to synchronize with present-day forms. The collecting data is meagre, but reference is made to Big Bayou, lagoons, marshes, cultivated ground and dry pine barrens. None of the species listed as his 66 herbarium sheets could be located in the Academy's plant collection in 1963.

The second item has the binder's title: “Botanical Catalogue.” The systematic arrangement here follows the later system of families, with only a few species listed. Some have collecting data, mostly referring to well-known Philadelphia collectors, so this catalog may have been prepared in connection with a study of the Academy's herbarium. A note on the flyleaf, signed by Joseph Ewan, in 1950 tentatively attributes this catalog to H. W. Bassett, on internal information and identification of the calligraphy.