[Admiralty Office] 16th March, 1776
Sir
It being His Majestys Intentions that the 6th Regiment of Foot now ~t St Vincents shall be carried from thense to North America and that the Commissioned and Non-Commissioned Officers of the 48th Regiment, now i~ Grenada and the other ceded Islands, should be brought to great Britain, with such Part of the private men as are not fit for Service. And Lord George Germain One of His Majesty's principal Secretaries of State having in his Letter of the 15th Inst: signified the Kings Pleasure that such a number of the Transport Vessels under your Command be sent to St Vincents as shall be sufficient for the Conveyance of the 6th Regiment to North America, and of the Officers and Invalids of the 48th Regiment to Great Bi:itain, I am therefor commanded by my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to signify their direction to you, whenever the Service in which the Transport Vessels are employed will admit of their being Spared for the.above purpose to cause a Sufficient number of them to be, prope.rly fitted, victualled and Stored and supplyed with Bedding and necessaries and sent to St Vincents to receive on board the 6th Regiment and carry them to North America and to bring the Officers and Invalids of the 48th Regiment to Great Brittain accordingly The Sixth Regiment will consist of 677 Men, Officers included; 60 Women & 12 Servants are to be allowed, & 90 Tons will be wanted for the Baggage; But as the Passage will not probably be a Long one from St Vincents to North America the allowance of a Ton & half to a man is judged fully sufficient.
It is impossible to ascertain the exact quantity of Tonnage that will be wanted for the Commissioned & Non Commissioned Officers and Invalids of the 48th Regiment but upon the Largest scale of Computation it is not supposed that the Number of Commissioned Officers will exceed twenty or that the non-Commissioned Officers and Invalids will amount to more than Eighty, but allowance must be made for forty Women & 12 Servants and of 60 Tons for the Baggage. 2 I am &ca
Geo. Jackson DS By the Greyhound at Corke Duplicate sent 29 March To Mr Pownall