8 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I3I 



Following this cruise, the Loo was again in the Channel service until 

 May 1743, when she was ordered "To cruize between Bilbao and 

 St. Jean de Luz,-*' to intercept some Caracca ships -^ expected at 

 St. Sebastian." ^^ At the conclusion of this cruise, which lasted some 

 six weeks, the Loo returned to Portsmouth to refit for her ill-fated 

 voyage to North America. Meanwhile Capt. Ashby Utting had as- 

 sumed command under a commission dated 4 April, I743.-'' As the 

 war between Great Britain and Spain had progressed, the people of 

 the infant colonies of Georgia and South Carolina had felt increasing 

 fears of an invasion by the Spanish from Florida and Cuba. In 1742 

 the Spanish had attacked Fort Frederica in Georgia but had been re- 

 pulsed by the troops of General Oglethorpe at the Battle of Bloody 

 Marsh. After this attempt by the Spanish the colonists felt that the 

 threat of devastation of their homes and farms was even greater. Con- 

 sequently, the Lords of the Plantations in London had been petitioned 

 by the Governor of South Carolina to send a large warship to the 

 Carolinas for the protection of the coastline. The result was the order- 

 ing of the Loo to the Charleston station. 



Three days after Secretary Corbett signed the Loo's orders Cap- 

 tain Utting had received them and replied that he would "punctually 

 comply" with them and use his "utmost endeavours" to get his ship 

 ready for sea.^° The Loo sailed soon after Utting's letter was posted 

 and arrived at Portsmouth on the morning of June 18. Reporting his 

 arrival there to the Secretary of the Admiralty, Utting complained 

 that the 6-pounders ^^ on the upper deck of the Loo were "very indif- 

 ferent and not fitt for a forrain voyage, being much honey combed." ^^ 

 a fact made known to him by his gunner, Samuel Kirk.""^ Utting 

 recommended that a battery of 9-pounders, which had been mounted 

 for the LIunnington, be substituted for the Loo's worn-out 

 6-pounders.^* 



26 On the northern coast of Spain. 



27 That is, ships of the Caracas (Venezuela) Company, 



28 ADM 8/23. 



29 Commission and Warrant Book, 1743-1745, AD 6/16, p. 335. 



30 Admiralty In-Letters, ADM i, vol. 2625, pt. 3, No. 146. 



31 Heavy guns of this period were rated by the weight of the solid shot they 

 threw. The barrel of a long 6-pounder of this period weighed around 2,000 

 pounds. 



32 That is, the barrels, which were cast iron, had small cracks in their bores. 



33 Kirk's name is mentioned in the record of the Court Martial of Captain 

 Utting held May 3, 1744 (Admiralty In-Letters, ADM i, vol. 5283). 



3'* ADM I, No. 417. Utting's recommendations were not followed. This is 

 proved by the finding of the same 6-pounders on the wreck site of the Loo. They 



