Paris March 16. 1778
Private My Lord
From Information which I have this Moment received I think there is great Reason to believe that the East Indies is the Real Destination of ct Destaings fleet. Your Lordship Knows that Toulon is no improper Place for such an Expedition, and it seems certain that there are to be many Troops on board. Some of the Ships will probably be armed en flute.1 When they are so armed they can carry a thousand Men on board each ship. M. de Bougainville2 goes with ct. Destaing. There are ~kttersof very good authority from Spain which say that the Spaniards have twenty two ships of the Line compleatly armed and ready to put to sea I am [&c.]
Stormont
Stevens's Facsimiles, vol. 22, no. 1902. Docketed: "Paris, March 16. 1778/Lord Stormont/(Private)/R. 19th. by Mr Hobart."
1. A ship armed en flute has a number of guns removed or struck into the hold and is fitted as a transport.
2. The noted explorer Louis-Antoine, Comte de Bougainville (1729-1811) commanded the ship of the line Guerrier in d'Estaing's squadron. He led an expedition of two frigates that circumnavigated the globe between 1766 and 1769, about which he published a treatise, Voyage autour du monde (1771).
