NO. 2 LAST CRUISE OF H.M.S. LOO — PETERSON 1 5 



conveniently to heave down without expense to the government. I have wrote 

 to ye Navy Board for careening gear, but have not had an answer.-""'^ 



On July 25 the Captain acknowledged receipt of the further instruc- 

 tions on cruising and the orders to escort the Pegasus, and prepared 

 to set sail.^^ 



On August 6 Governor Clinton, his wife and her children, and suite 

 of 15 persons came aboard the Loo.^^ She probably sailed within a 

 week. 



Six weeks later the Loo arrived safely in New York harbor with 

 her charges, and the Pegasus. The Governor and his suite disem- 

 barked on September 22.^^ Utting reported in a letter dated in New 

 York Harbor September 29 that the voyage had been uneventful 

 "with nothing worth their Lordships notice." In the same letter the 

 Captain made his first report on the trial ration of half brandy and 

 half beer, stating that it agreed with men "extreamly well, and they 

 are well pleased." ^^ The ship, he reported, was unmooring as he 

 wrote, and expected to sail that afternoon for South Carolina escorting 

 the Pegasus. His departure was delayed until October 6, however, 

 probably by adverse weather, but the bright lights of New York might 

 have been the real reason, since Utting mentioned no cause for the 

 delay. After a passage of five days the Loo arrived ofif Charleston 

 Bar. In Charleston he found the sloop Spy ready for sea, the Rye 

 "cleaned and almost fitt for sea," the Flamhorough "sheating." ^^ He 

 immediately delivered the Admiralty orders instructing the captains 

 of these ships to place themselves under his command, and then issued 

 orders giving each ship stations for cruising off the Carolina coast for 

 the defense of the colonies and protection of English and colonial ship- 

 ping. Captain Hardy of the Rye was directed to "cruize on the coast 

 of South Carolina, between Charles Town Barr and the So.W most 

 part of the same coast, keeping off St. Augustine, and as near into the 

 shore as you shall judge proper when winds and weather will permitt 

 to intercept any trade that may come from the Havanah to that 

 place." ^° Hardy was also instructed to inform the Governor of 



■'■'•* ADM I, vol. 2625, pt. 3, No. 421. 



s5 Ibid. 



^^ Loo's General Muster Book, ADM 36, Ser. I, vol. 1823. 



57 Loo's General Muster Book, ADM 30, Ser. I, vol. 1823. 



58 ADM I, vol. 2625, pt. 3, No. 423. 



^^ Ibid., No. 435. British ships were at this time sheathed with thin fir boards 

 backed with horsehair and pitch. The sea worms ate through the thin board but 

 were repulsed by the hair, and the ship's hull planking was thus protected. 



60 ADM I, vol. 60, No. 435. 



