26 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I3I 



by the Spaniards and converted into a Snow that the said Snow was taken by 

 the Loo about a fourthnight ago, viz the 5th of this instant February and cast 

 away with the said Man of War about nine leagues to the westward of Cape 

 Florida.^13 



On March 6, as the hearing proceeded, this deposition was intro- 

 duced to the Court of Vice Admiralty as "Exhibit Marked I" and 

 undoubtedly had a great influence in the outcome of the case in 

 Utting's favor. 



By March 12 the proceedings in the Vice Admiralty Court seem 

 to have been concluded. Utting had only to wait for the return of 

 his ofificers from the Bahamas, and then a warship for transportation 

 to England if his court martial could not be held in America. ^^* 



The loss of the Loo had immediate repercussions in the colony of 

 South Carolina, and on the same day the case in court was concluded, 

 the Governor, James Glen, wrote a lengthy letter to the Lords of 

 Trade in which he indicated the fears of invasion which had swept the 

 southern frontier of the colony : 



After writing so lately by Captain Hardy,^'^^ I had not so soon troubled your 

 Lordships with another letter, but the loss of his Majestys Ship the Loo makes it 

 my duty; this unlucky accident happened tlie fifth of February about one in the 

 Morning, by her running on some rocks called the Martyres to the South West 

 of Cape Florida. 



. . . my principal concern is to express to your Lordships how sensibly that 

 loss affects this province. The long neglected Town of Beauford, upon the 

 arrival of this Ship, and the assurances given that another would be sent out, 

 began to revive, and many good houses were built, and many grants for Town 

 Lotts were applyed for, so that I am persuaded that Town and the adjacent 

 Country, would soon have been well settled, and consequently our Southern 

 Frontier, where we are most vulnerable, would have been strengthened, but now 

 I receive letters and petitions dayly from the best People in those parts, repre- 

 senting their fears and the dangers to which they are exposed, and everything 

 is at a stand, tho' I have stationed one of our gaily s (a very fine small vessel) 

 there, I have likewise desired the Captains of the Man of War on this station, 

 to keep a particular eye upon that Port, in their Cruizes along our coast.^i" 



^13 Copies of papers relating to the proceedings of the Court of Vice Admiralty 

 sent by Captain Utting to Thomas Corbett after his return to England (ADM i, 

 vol. 2625, No. 455.) 



^1* Utting and his wife had been residents of South Carolina several years. 

 The wait for transportation to England was probably not too burdensome to 

 Utting. 



11^ Of the Rye, which had sailed for England a short time before Utting 

 reached Port Royal. 



ii" Letter of James Glen dated March 12, 1743/44. Colonial Office original 

 correspondence, CO5, vol. 370, pp. 141-142, Public Record Office, London. 



