24 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I3I 



capacity and safety of the longboat were increased by adding planks 

 to the gunwhales, giving her a higher freeboard and decreasing the 

 chances of shipping water in a seaway while heavily loaded. Thus 

 altered, the boat was able to carry 60 men.^°° 



At about noon the next day, Wednesday, February 8, all the men 

 were embarked — 60 in the altered longboat, 10 in the yawl,^°® 184 "in 

 the little Sloop not 30 tuns" ^" and 20 in the captain's barge. Utting 

 sent the sloop, the longboat, and the yawl 3 or 4 miles oflfshore 

 while he remained behind with the men detailed to the barge and laid 

 most of the gunpowder which had been saved and some other fuel 

 along the starboard gun deck of the Loo, the only deck remaining 

 above water. By 2 o'clock all the preparations were completed and 

 Utting fired the ship. As they rowed away the ship blazed to the top 

 of her masts and blew up "in several places and was in flames fore 

 and aft." ^°* The burning ship was visible until sunset and while her 

 hull was completely destroyed, Utting feared that the Spaniards would 

 return and salvage her guns and anchors, since intelligence of the Loo's 

 end would be communicated to the Spanish in Havana by the escaped 

 crew of the sloop. 



Utting's plight was still grave, since the sloop was very much over- 

 loaded and would have capsized in a blow. He placed First Lieutenant 

 Randell and Third Lieutenant Lloyd in charge of the longboat, his 

 Sailing Master Bishop was given command of the barge and "a mate" 

 assigned to the yawl. Utting remained in command of the sloop. The 

 motley fleet set a course for the Bahamas, the boats being ordered "in 

 case of separation to make the best of their way over to the Bahama 

 Bank for Providence." ^"^ 



That night Utting carried a light to guide the boats, but they out- 

 sailed the overloaded sloop and at midnight were lost from sight when 

 Utting had to tack and stand to the northward after signaling his 

 change of course with the light. At daybreak the boats were gone, and 

 Utting, feeling that they were bound for Providence and being unable 

 to set sail for an easterly course, set a course for South Carolina. In 

 his report to the Admiralty he summed up the desperate situation in 

 which he found himself with the overloaded sloop : "it blowing fresh 

 and the sloop top heavy with men could not carry sail so obliged to 



105 Ibid. 



100 y\ heavy double-ended rowboat. 



107 Utting's letter of February 15, 1744. 

 "8 Ibid. 



108 Ibid. Providence had been settled in the seventeenth century. 



