May it please Your Honor ー

Yours by Lt [John] Smith now lies before me, The Accounts of the Ship shall be with all Honesty laid before You for Elucidation and immedi~tely should have set out to have waited on you had not eminet, Urgent Occassion prevented, for by the last Flag great threatnings were sent, Such as that Five Frigates had been in absolute Order to Blockade this Port on Acct of the Oliver Cromwell and they talk hard, for being so long on that Duty they do declare that they will cut her out and even do more My Accts at all Times are ready for the most critical examination, But may my best Judgment be forgiven, if I miss doing what I think is for the best, and am Sure Yr Honor, if present, would not suffer me to be absent from immediate active service, there is now in the Offing, by the best Intelligence thirty six Ships now within four Leagues of the Ship and repeatedly send their threats, And give me leave to Inform or represent, that my Ship is look[ed] on the greatest defence there is on this Shore for but few if any of the Melit[i]a are here, and never was this Place in greater Danger, & suffer me to Assure you, that all my Prudence is in Action to keep my Chain together, for Forty Dollars is Bid for any of my smallest Men to quit the Service of the Ship & Country No perticular Orders are given for my Direction and are protected & secreted & no Rule for me to go by. Dear Sir My Heart, my Life, my every Faculty of my Mind is devoted to the honest service of my Country ー Depend upon it that I will wait on You with a true Acct of my Wages & Ca the Instant that I think I can leave this Harbour, with the utmost Respect Your Honor shall see the Man who can with the utmost Truth subscribe [&c.]