l8 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I3I 



On November 25 Captain Hamer of the Flamborough was also 

 ordered to be on the lookout for the prisoner exchange ship expected 

 from Havana, and to remove seamen for the Loo.''^ 



As work proceeded on repairing the storm damage to the rigging 

 of the Loo, the carpenter discovered that the mainmast had been 

 sprung in several places and reported to the Captain. Utting, on 

 November 27, appointed the first and second lieutenants, the master,^* 

 the carpenter and the carpenter's mate to "take a strict and careful 

 survey" of the mast and report its "exact condition" to him." The 

 survey board acted immediately and reported the same day that the 

 mast had been severely sprung below decks and in their opinion was 

 unfit for service.''^ 



For over a month the crew and officers turned to getting a main- 

 mast cut and rigged, during which operations Warren Bolitha, the 

 First Lieutenant of the Loo, broke three ribs, and on December 29, 

 the day before the Loo sailed, he requested the captain to "let him go 

 home in order to get cured." ''° 



While Utting was struggling to refit the Loo's damaged rigging, a 

 letter arrived on December 14 from Capt. Charles Hardy of the Rye 

 announcing that she, too, had sprung her mainmast. Utting immedi- 

 ately ordered Hardy to replace the mast "as soon as possible" and to 

 return to his station off the Carolina coast. As a precaution against 

 confusion on the part of the commanding officer of any ship that might 

 relieve the Rye while the Loo was away on its expected cruise toward 

 Cuba, Utting instructed Hardy to pass on his orders to his relief.^" 



Meanwhile the Flamborough had been at sea and had fallen in with 

 the ship that was bringing freed prisoners exchanged in Havana.®^ 

 On December 15 Utting ordered Captain Hamer to search out the 

 Spy, which was then cruising off Charlestown Bar, and transfer to 

 her, for transportation to the Loo at Port Royal, 30 of the seamen 

 whom he had impressed, and then to proceed to cruise off Georgia, 

 sending a boat to the Governor of that colony "for any intelligence 

 he may have of any of the enemy's ships, or vessells being on that 

 coast." **- 



^5 ADM I, vol. 2625, No. 432. 



78 Warships of this period had an officer in charge of the active sailing of the 

 ship known as the Master. 



" ADM I, vol. 2625, No. 433. 

 " Ibid 



79 ADM I, vol. 2625, No. 431. 



80 ADM I, vol. 2625, No. 430. 



81 Among them, John Manley and Henry Spencer, who were to play a fateful 

 part in the subsequent events. (ADM i, vol. 2625, No. 446.) 



82 ADM I, vol. 2625, No. 434. 



