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in his tent than to stay onboard his vessel. Thereupon
P.P. ordered him to appoint the eldest officer under
him to command the flotilla in case of bad weather,
his own ill health, or any sudden motion of the
enemy preventing his being able to get onboard
when it might be necessary to act.
This PN wished to decline: knowing what the
consequences would be: but PP insisted;
upon which P.N. sent me an order to
take the command accordingly.
It being contrary to all custom & indeed
to the letter of the law that an Officer in the
army should command those of the Navy
much more 10 od those of the same rank
as himself in a fleet, the Navy gentlemen
had from the beginning shewn reluctance
and now were very ill disposed to obey
us or any gentry. besides there was
a Dutchman of the name of Winter
who had been taken into the sea service but
a short time after me I was made Lt. Colonel and with the
same rank: and he now commanded
one of the divisions of the flotilla
Fanshawe, who was now Colonel as
well as myself, had been promised
a regiment. I for my part doubted much
if I should have one given me fearing
that P.P. would find some means or other
to prevent my being able to decline the
Sea service: but, as soon as I had <lb/. received the order to command the
Flotilla as being the senior Officer
in it, I was then sure of having a
regiment given me to get me out
of the way: and so it was the very
next day: for winter, with the rest of
the White coats, had made such a
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Identifier: | JB/540/489/001"JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 540. |
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