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Davies has lately seen the bolts taken out of the Persius
which was sheathed 5 or 6 years ago. — The heads of the
bolts had been covered with oakum & canvass, and were
when taken out perfectly fresh, as were the bolts themselves
for two or three inches from the head; but farther in
they were corroded; so much so that bolts an inch
thick were reduced to the size of a quill.
Davies has great doubts about the success of the new
varnish, but I don't know his reasons —
The Royal George, Narnier, Ocean & Union lost their
Rudders last October at anchor in Torbay in a gale of
wind — They were hung with the patent Metal which
it should, seem is not so strong as Iron — Neither Dick
Nor Davies knew whether the Hooks were thicker than
the Iron ones, not whether the patent metal means
Keir's Metal —
Dick, who was Secretary to Gambier in America, says
that 9 of their copper pigates came into N. York at once
without their Rudders, which had been hung with Iron —
One of them, Davies' said, had had her Rudder new
hung only a year before —
Sailing
Dick was last summer — The
fleet was 36 Ships . They all went
well, even the Princess & Buffalo and so equally
that after a 12 hours chase they were all to
be found within two miles — The Edgar went to
Gibraltar last winter with Rodney & outsailed all
the fleet — In her return she was told to go 13 or
14 Knots — Last summer with the bottom
officers & men she was become one of the worst
sailers in the Fleet — Capt. Elliot tried all possible experiments
& altered the stowage over & over but to no
purpose. The Duke is now one of the best sailers
among the three Deckers & the Formidable the worst —
The finest ship in the fleet, both for sailing & carrying
her guns, was the Canada — But the favourite ship of
the whole Navy is, would you have thought it, the
Arrogant, which was at sea in Octr & Novr last year,
& is to come out of Dock in the spring with a slight
repair.
W. has since writing the above has been
spending a week at Brompton. All parties
vastly pleased with each other. Betsy D. he says
is grown a very fine & nimble girl.
John Hunter is a Lieut.t on board the Berwick, &
came home the other day in that ship which had been
dismasted near Bermuda — the Squadron consisting of
8 sail brought to in the evening the wind blowing very
hard at South East — In the night it shifted to the
North west & blew as hard as before. Next morning only
the Hester, Ruby & Bristol were to be seen from it
Berwick, all dismasted, & with difficulty freeing
themselves from the Water which came in above, their
bottoms being tight. Capt. Stewart would have brought
them all to England, but it was not thought safe
& they went for Jamacia. The Grafton, Albion,
Thunderer & Trident it is supposed put before the
wind when it shifted. Hunter describes the storm
to have been one of the most violent that ever was
known — After the topmast, shrouds & yard were gone
from the Berwick's main mast the wind tore off the
Cap, & such was the noise of the storm that when
the Mast itself some time after broke near the deck,
Hunter who was standing within a few feet of it did
not hear the crash. The Berwick however requires
little repair & will be at sea again presently. She
came home under her Tiny masts nearly as soon as the
Jamaica fleet, which the Squadron had been escorting
part of the way & had left a few days before.
The Berwick carried out only one of Arnold's
Which Arnold told them was gaining 28 seconds a day
& that they must make that allowance if they would
not give him time to regulate it — The Ship lay some
time in Torbay & Hunter by a number of observations
found that it gained exactly 28 seconds a day Whatever
was the temperature. They accordingly made that allowance
& the watch told them the longitude with the greatest
exactness — At last, I think between the Leeward Islands
& Jamaica it stopped — The Stopping appears now to
have been owing to the stop getting in among the
works, to be sure of preventing which another time
they propose to do without a stop.
All this I had through the medium of Davies, not
having seen Hunter myself —
You take no notice in yours of Novr
21. O.S. of your friend's having reced that
letter which I mentioned to have written him
the in Oct.r It was directed to him a present
ou en-durant Cape du Varpeau dans la service
& c. Petersbourg. name as well as
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Identifier: | JB/539/118/001 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 539.
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1780-12-26 |
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539 |
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118 |
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001 |
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Correspondence |
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Jeremy Bentham |
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