Q. Would not the business be better carried on for distressing the enemy if there was a separate station to the southward, if a proper place can be possessed for such station?
A. Certainly it would.
Q. Can a fleet be stationed to the southward to any good effect without a safe har bour, and easy of access to refit in, and where provisions and refreshments can be found?
A. Certainly not.
Q. Can such harbour be of use unless possessed and protected by troops and fortifications or by the friendly disposition of the inhabitants?
A. It cannot.
Q. Would it not be advisable that a command of frigates and small vessels should be fixed near the Bahama Islands for the security of West Florida and the trade passing the Gulf?
A. If a proper place can be found, such command would be very useful for the purposes mentioned.
Q. Should not there be a central station with a naval establishment for the careening and refitting ships of any burthen?
A. To be sure there should.
Q. Should there not also be a northern station for Nova Scotia and the River St Lawrence?
A. Yes.
Q. Can Halifax, and the naval establishment there, be effectually secured without a large body of troops and additional works for its defence?
A. Halifax cannot be secured without a large body of troops; and it is even doubtful whether it can be secured with troops if attacked by an army.
Q. Will the 42 ships of the line now in commission at home admit of our making proper detachments for the security of our distant possessions?
A. According to the accounts we have of the force of France and Spain in Europe, it would be unsafe to make detachments from the 42 ships.
Q. How many ships of the line may be ready for service by April or May if they were immediately commissioned?
A. Seven, including the Victory.
Q. How many ships of the line may be got ready for service from the first of Jan. 1778 to the first Jan. 1779?
A. About 25.
These questions were put to Lord Mulgrave and Sir H. P. at a meeting of the Cabinet Council, December 18th 1777, and were answered as above. There were present at this meeting:
Lord Chancellor
Lord Gower
Lord Dartmouth
Lord Sandwich
Lord George Germain
Lord North
Lord M. and Sir H. P. were also asked what port to the southward would in their opinion be the most useful to a fleet and fittest for a naval establishment. They desired not to be considered as giving a decisive answer to this question, as it would require much consideration and enquiry from persons well acquainted with the coast; but at present they thought that Norfolk in Virginia or Port Royal in South Carolina might answer the purpose.
