Photo Essay: Notes on “The Voyage of the USS Juniata (1883–1885)”

The images included in the June 2013 Cross-Currents photo essay, “The Voyage of the USS Juniata (1883–1885),” are digital scans made from a set of five-by-eight-inch glass plate negatives depicting scenes from a three-year (1883–1885) naval expedition to the Far East by the USS Juniata. The photographer was Asa M. Mattice, an officer on board (figure 1). Mattice, a native of New York State, graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy at the head of his class as a cadet engineer in 1874 and was later appointed to the teaching staff at Annapolis. He served on the USS Juniata beginning on November 30, 1882, when the ship departed from New York to join five other ships at the Asiatic Squadron.