LB, UkLPR, Adm. 2/1334 (Secret), fols. 34, 39. Addressed below close: "Capt. Saml. Hood, Courageux." Notation: "By the Porcupine —Return'd & Cancelled." Docketed: "ORD. 2 January 1778./Sir Samuel Hood—Courageux." The orders were actually entrusted to Capt. Evelyn Sutton of the Proserpine, not of the Porcupine, to deliver to Hood, who was cruising north of Cape Ortegal. Proserpine sprung a leak and the mission to carry the orders was transferred to Capt. George Balfour, of H.M.S. Culloden. Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to Sutton, 2 Jan., and to Balfour, 4 Jan., ibid., 40-41, 47.