Halifax April the 11th 1776.
[Extract]
Sir You have represented to me in your Letter of the 3d of March the Reason you had to request an Augmentation to the Force under your Command; I immediately dispatched Orders for the Glasgow to join You, that You might find no Inconvenience from the Absence of the King's fisher, which Ship I found it necessary to send to Halifax, where she is now heaving down; and as an Addition to your Squadron, I have ordered Captain [George] Montagu of the Fowey to follow your Directions for his future proceedings. With the Ships You now have, I hope and flatter myself you will be able to effect some, if not all, the Services in the Delaware pursuant to my former Orders. I wish I could send You a greater Reinforcement, but the indispensibly necessary protection of the Victuallers which We hourly expect on the Coast, and the safe Arrival of those being of so great Importance to His Majesty's Service, it is utterly impossible for me to furnish You at this time with a greater Number of Ships. I have no Doubt of the Propriety of your proposal for having a small Body of Troops to act in Conjunction with You upon the Service You are employed; but the present Situation of Affairs will not I fear admit of any being employed for the Purposes You mention.
In answer to your Request to have some Howitzers or Cohorns, I must inform You upon Inquiry I find that the Ordnance Storekeeper has none in Store, nor any three pound Shot, as demanded by Captain [Henry] Bellew.
In my Letter of the 23d of March I mentioned to You my Expectation that Sir peter parker would join You with a Squadron from England, from whom You consequently would have required an Additional Force and Assistance; but by Dispatches which I have since received by the Milford, I am informed by my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty that it is probable Sir peter will proceed to Charles Town in South Carolina. The Inconveniences which attend your distant Situation certainly will not be lessened by this Measure: However if when you have authentic Information of Sir Peter's Arrival on the Coast, you should be so situated that it may be necessary to give Information of it, and should prefer sending to him rather than to me, I am sure he will chearfully give you his Advice and every Assistance in his Power.
You will also receive a Copy of a Letter I have received from Sir peter parker, wherein he expresses his Wish to be re-inforced with the Experiment and Roebuck; the Experiment which has been drove to the West Indies, and which is I hope now on her passage to Boston, I have ordered--'to join him, and if the important Service of preventing the Operations of the Rebels in the Delaware could be dispensed with, or that you could leave a sufficient Force there for that purpose, I should be glad to comply with his Desire.
From the most positive Information I have received, it is probable Sir peter parker is by this time at, or in the Neighbourhood of Charles Town, South Carolina.