An entry in the deck log of the USS Trenton for 14 July 1884 states they were “Steaming through Inland Sea following Juniata with Enterprise astern”. The “Inland Sea” refers to the waters between Honshu and the island of Shikoku, Japan. On 3 August 1884 the Trenton ran aground on a flat in the Inland Sea. In a letter to the Secretary of the Navy, Captain Robert L. Phythian, Captain of the Trenton, recounts being “towed off by Juniata assisted by our own engines and an anchor which had been planted astern”. He further praised “the skill exhibited by Commander Harrington” of the Juniata. Phythian would later serve as the 14th Superintendent of the Naval Academy, 1894-1898.
This entry established that the photographer must have been aboard the Juanita and led us to the Juanita deck log which opens with a list of "Officers on Board" including Asa Mattice and George Woods. The log further established the route taken by Juanita and ports of call, essential to identifying the photographs