My Lords,

Having had the honor to lay before The King the Copy of Vice Admiral Lord Shuldham's Letter to your Lordships of the 16th of April, transmitted to me in your Letter of the 7th of June, in which he acquaints your Lordships that upon quitting the Harbour of Boston with the Fleet, he had stationed a Squadron of His Majesty's Ships in Nantasket Road, under the command of Captain [Francis] Banks of the Renown, for the purpose as he expresses it, "of intercepting and sending to Halifax the Ships with the Supplies ordered to Boston, and which would consequently be Ignorant of the removal of the Fleet and Army;" And having also laid before His Majesty the Disposition of the Ships under Lord Shuldham's command, dated 6th July last, transmitted in Your Lordships Letter of the 14th Instant, from which it appears that His Majesty's Ships Renown and Milford, the Hope Sloop and Halifax Brigantine were then stationed in Boston Bay.

His Majesty remarked, with much Surprize, that in the account given by General Howe in his Letter to me of the 7th of July, of the Capture of two Transports with part of the Highland Regiments onboard, those Transports are said to have been carried into Boston, without having been intercepted by any of His Majesty's Ships; That other accounts from different quarters represent that Harbour as an Asylum for the Rebel Cruizers and their Prizes, And that the late Advices from Halifax mention the arrival there of the Renown and Milford, two of the Ships stated by Lord Shuldham to be cruizing in the Bay of Boston.

His Majesty was therefore pleased to command me to signify to your Lordships His Majesty's Pleasure, that you do direct Lord Howe to inquire into the Truth of these Facts, and into the conduct of the Officers commanding such of His Majesty's Ships as have been stationed in Nantasket Road, or appointed to Cruize in the Bay of Boston since the Evacuation of that Town by the Army, and to report the same to your Lordships for His Majesty's Information.

I am further commanded to signify to your Lordships His Majesty's Pleasure that Lord Howe be also directed to inquire into, and report to your Lordships, for His Majesty's Information, the Causes which so long operated to prevent the Station of a small Squadron of His Majesty's Ships in the Delaware Bay, agreeable to what was signified to Your Lordships by the Earl of Dartmouth, by His Majesty's command, in his Lordship's Letter of the 7th July 1775; And what were the Motives which induced the removal of His Majesty's Ships Roebuck and Liverpool from that River, when at length it had been thought fit to station them there, by which an Opportunity was afforded to a large number of the Rebel Ships to sail from thence without Interruption, and for bringing in Supplies of all Sorts of Ammunition and other Necessaries of which the Rebels stood so much in need. ー I am &c