[Admiralty Office, London] By &c
Whereas Transport Vessels have been provided & sent into the River Clyde in order to receive on board & carry to Halifax in Nova Scotia Three of the new raised Regiments1 which are under orders to embark at Greenock, And Whereas we intend that the Ship you command2 shall Convoy the said Transport Vessels to the Place of their destination3 You are therefore so soon as those Regiments shall be embarked & the Vessels having them on board shall be in every respect ready to proceed hereby required & directed to take them under your Convoy & putting to Sea with the very first opportunity of Wind & Weather make the best of your way consistent with their security with them to Halifax & having seen them in safely to that Place You are to return to Plymouth4 giving Us an account of your arrival & proceedings & waiting there for further order. Given &c 2d April 1778
Sandwich H Palliser Mulgrave
LB, UkLPR, Adm. 2/104, fols. 208–9. Addressed below close: “Capt Gell-Thetis-Greenock.”
1. These regiments were the 70th, the 74th Highland (Argyll Highlanders) and the 82d Regiment (Duke of Hamilton’s).
2. H.M. frigate Thetis.
3. See Capt. John Gell to Secretary of the Admiralty Philip Stephens, 24 Apr., below.
4. On the same day the Lords Commissioners ordered the senior officer for the time being of His Majesty’s Ships at Halifax “not to detain him or the said Ship but to hasten their departure as much as possible.” LB, UkLPR, Adm. 2/104, fol. 209.
