Vice Admiral Viscount Howe to Captain John Brisbane, R.N., July 19, 1778

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[Sandy Hook, N.J., 19 July 1778]

Copy of a Paragraph of a letter Rec^d. from the Viscount Howe, Dated off Sandy Hook July 19^th. 1778.

As there is not a sufficient Naval Force for the defence of Rhode Island,¹ and none can be sent while the French Squadron without Sandy Hook continues so much Superior to that und^r. my Command: It may not be Unseasonable to remind you, that you are at liberty to apply the Force under your direction by landing of Guns & Men for the Service of the Batteries, Dismantling and even destroying the Ships to strengthen the defence of the Post in the most effectual manner in case of an Attack upon the Post, more especially when no longer in prospect of Rendering better assistance under the same circumstances, or preventing the Capture of the Ships.²

Copy, UKLPR, Adm. 1/5310, fol. 176. The original of Vice Adm. Viscount Howe to Capt. John Brisbane, R.N., 19 July 1778, cannot be found. This extract from the letter was sent by Capt. John Brisbane to Comdr, Hugh Cloberry Christian on 26 July and on 28 Sept. read at Christian's court-martial for the loss of H.M. Sloop Kingsfisher. Ibid., fols. 173–77. The addressee is conjectured but certainly must have been the senior officer commanding the British squadron at Newport, Capt. John Brisbane. Below this paragraph Brisbane added: "Every Commander is therefore directed to attend to the foregoing Paragraph and Act from Circumstances in the best & most effectual manner possible for the defence of the Post, and Ships under His Command, so as to answer the Intentions of His Lordship." For more on the scuttling of the British warships, see Brisbane, to Howe, 29–31 July, and Journal of H.M. ship-rigged sloop-of-war Kingsfisher, 29 and 30 July, below.

1. That is, Newport and the island of Rhode Island.

2. The ships composing the British squadron at Newport were frigates Flora, Lark, Orpheus, Juno, and Cerberus, sloops-of-war Falcon and Kingsfisher, and armed galleys Pigot, Alarm, and Spitfire.

Document Information

Date

1778 July 19

Volume

Volume 13

Series

American Theater, June 1 to August 15, 1778

Naval Documents of the American Revolution

Vice Admiral Viscount Howe to Captain John Brisbane, R.N., July 19, 1778

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