130 CORRESPONDENCE. 



The foregoing vessels ought to be fully and ably officered from 

 the navy, but there should be no supernumeraries allowed in any 

 of the departments ; the petty officers, seamen, and marines should 

 be chosen men, and ought to be engaged for that particular ser- 

 vice; the crews of the brigs and schooners ought to be limited in 

 number, sufficient only for safe and easy navigation when making 

 a passage, but to be increased from the frigate whenever engaged 

 in active operations. 



The decided advantage which such an expedition would have 

 over any other, or all others, which have been sent out by Euro- 

 pean nations, is too manifest to require argument to sustain the 

 plan ; suffice it, then, to enumerate a few of the advantages which 

 would accrue from the employment of such vessels as I have above 

 described. First, the ample and, comfortable accommodation of all 

 connected with the enterprise : no vessel would at any time be 

 crowded, nor ivould operations be paralyzed for want of men in 

 any situation, whether for the arduous duties of open boats, or as 

 guards for protecting the exploring and surveying parties against 

 the natives; for, as before intimated, when a station is reached, the 

 frigate would occupy some safe and convenient position, and from 

 her own crew fully man the smaller vessels, and furnish extra 

 boats for surveys and exploring and scientific operations. She 

 would, too, be the safe depository for the valuable and costly instru- 

 ments to be used on the expedition, as well as the receptacle for all 

 specimens collected at each station by the scientific corps, the 

 chiefs of which would, of course, be attached to the largest ship, 

 and, when on the passage from station to station, they could, in 

 concert, revise and arrange appropriately the collections they had 

 made. 



The presence of a frigate among the islands would certainly be 

 more apt to impress the natives with a just idea of our national and 

 naval power than any other description of ships, however much in- 

 creased in number, if divided into smaller vessels; and her magni- 



