The Barrington Papers, Vol. 77. Originally published by Navy Record Society, London, 1937.
This free content was digitised by double rekeying. All rights reserved.
'IX. The Prince Of Wales: Letters', in The Barrington Papers, Vol. 77, ed. D Bonner-Smith( London, 1937), British History Online https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/navy-record-soc/vol77/pt1/pp447-454 [accessed 25 November 2024].
'IX. The Prince Of Wales: Letters', in The Barrington Papers, Vol. 77. Edited by D Bonner-Smith( London, 1937), British History Online, accessed November 25, 2024, https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/navy-record-soc/vol77/pt1/pp447-454.
"IX. The Prince Of Wales: Letters". The Barrington Papers, Vol. 77. Ed. D Bonner-Smith(London, 1937), , British History Online. Web. 25 November 2024. https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/navy-record-soc/vol77/pt1/pp447-454.
The Prince of Wales - Letters
To the Secretary of the Admiralty (P.R.O., Ad. I, 1497)
Bath. 4 August, 1776.
Sir,
On so many Ships being ordered to be put in condition
for the sea, I think it my duty to offer my service, and to
assure their Lordships that I shall always be ready to obey
their commands at the shortest notice.
I am, &c.,
Saml. Barrington.
[? TO LORD SANDWICH] (P.R.O., Ad. I, 1497)
Prince of Wales, Hamoze. 17 November [1776].
My Lord,
I shall be much obliged to your Lordship if you will
appoint Lieutenant William Carlyon (fn. 1) fifth of the Prince of
Wales, moving up Messrs Shipman (fn. 2) and Brine (fn. 3) to third
and fourth.
Mr Carlyon is not commissioned for any Ship, but acting
by Order of Admiral Amherst in the Raisonable which I
understand is soon expected at this Port.
I am, &c.,
Saml Barrington.
[? To The Secretary of the Admiralty] (P.R.O., Ad. I, 1497)
Plymouth. 19 November [1776].
Dear Sir,
Lieutenant Bazely (fn. 4) at the Rendezvous at Dover has
sent me a List of eleven Volunteers for the Prince of Wales.
They are embarked in the Wells Cutter and Speedwell Sloop,
but we are at such a distance that without your kind intercession they will be smuggled by some of the Eastern
Pirates.
We are rigged and our Ground Tier stowed, but all at a
stand now for want of assistance. These fine fellows and
a few Blackguards that are to be got here would set me
going nicely.
I am, &c.,
Saml Barrington.
To The Secretary of the Admiralty (P.R.O., Ad. I, 1497)
Prince of Wales,
Plymouth Sound.
20 July, 1777.
Sir,
I am to acquaint you of the arrival of His Majesty's
Ship under my command.
I am informed that the Lord Camden Prize, which I
took on my late cruize, is one of the completest Ships in
every respect that can possibly be built; is of 350 Tons;
and will make an excellent Sloop of War, to carry 16 Guns.
Should my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty have
occasion for such a Vessel, I beg leave to offer her to them.
I am, &c.,
Saml Barrington.
From the Earl of Sandwich (First Lord of the Admiralty)
Admiralty. 19 September, 1777.
Dear Sir,
I waited till your return from your cruise to answer the
letter I received from you some time ago. (fn. 5)
Before I had received your letter the Command to the
Leeward Islands was destined to Lord Shuldham; but
many things may happen in which your services may be
wanted to command a Squadron before there is another
promotion [to] Admirals, and you may be assured that I
know no one more fit to command a Squadron on the most
serious business than the person to whom I am writing.
If you should be called upon to serve as a Commodore with
a Captain under you, I am very certain you would have no
reason to differ with me about the appointment of your
officers, as I shall always be disposed to oblige you to the
utmost of my power, and to prove the truth and regard
with which I am, &c.,
Sandwich.
To The Secretary of the Admiralty (P.R.O., Ad. I, 1497)
Prince of Wales,
Plymouth Sound.
21 November, 1777.
Sir,
Since I received my Orders on Monday night last, the
Prince of Wales, Bedford and Asia have been twice short on
their anchors, with the wind at N.W., but veering to the
westward were obliged to moor again. The wind in the
Sound is now at N.W.bW., but at W.bN. and West
without Penlee Point. I do not think it advisable to beat
down Channel with so large a Ship at this season of the year;
but their Lordships may be assured, I shall not let slip the
first favourable opportunity of sailing.
I am, &c.,
Saml Barrington.
From the Earl of Sandwich (First Lord of the Admiralty)
Admiralty. 19 November, 1777.
Dear Sir,
As the wind is against your sailing, possibly this letter
may reach you in time for me to learn in answer to it,
whether in case it should be thought advisable to send a
Flag Officer to be second in command under Lord Howe, it
would be agreeable to you to have your Flag and to be
appointed to that service. As in a former letter you told
me that the thing that principally induced you to wish for
a Command was that it might give you an opportunity of
being useful to your officers, I am very ready and have
pleasure to inform you that I will take your recommendation
of your Captain and all your officers, of which if you please
Sir James Barclay (fn. 6) may be one. You will observe that I
do not as yet say that His Majesty will appoint you to this
Command, as we wish to hear from Lord Howe before any
final arrangement is taken concerning it; my only meaning
in writing this is to know your sentiments upon the subject
before you get out of my reach, as by that I may be enabled
to settle matters notwithstanding your absence. I am, with
great truth and regard, &c.,
Sandwich.
TO THE EARL OF SANDWICH (First Lord Of The Admiralty)
Prince of Wales,
Plymouth Sound.
23 November, 1777.
My Lord,
I am just honoured with your Lordship's letter of the
19th instant. As I acquainted you in a former letter that
my only inducement to command a Squadron was to have
it in my power to provide for my officers, my being sent in a
subordinate character could never answer that purpose.
Surely, my Lord, you can never think it agreable to an
officer of sentiment to serve in a part of the World where
one so junior to himself was honoured with a distinguishing
Pendant in preference to him. Let my opinion be what it
will about the treatment I have, and may yet receive, your
Lordship will please to observe I never refused when called
upon, let the service be ever so disagreable. Your Lordship
was pleased to tell me in a former letter that the Command
of the Leeward Islands was designed for Lord Shuldham
before I applied for it, but that many things might happen
in which my services might be wanted to command a
Squadron, and that you knew no one more fit to command
a Squadron on the most serious business than the person
you was then writing to. What occasion your Lordship
may have for altering that opinion is best known to yourself.
I can only say it is my earnest wish to have it in my power
to serve those officers who deserve so much from me. They
have been with me from their early youth without a friend
but myself. It is now necessary to open myself to your
Lordship fully on this subject, and to assure you that I shall
(after the numberless flattering compliments and professions
from you) think myself excessively ill-treated should you
dispose of the Leeward Islands, or any other Command, to
a junior officer to myself. Sir James Barclay is made a
Lieutenant by Lord Howe, but I am equally obliged to your
Lordship for your kind intentions towards him.
The wind is still unfavourable and I fear will remain so. Beating down Channel at this season of the year is a tedious work to little purpose and much risk, but your Lordship may be assured I shall not let slip the first opportunity of sailing.
I am, with great respect, &c.,
Saml Barrington.
From The Earl Of Sandwich (First Lord Of The Admiralty)
Admiralty. 27 November, 1777.
Dear Sir,
Nothing was farther from my thoughts than that anything I said in the letter which I lately wrote to you could
have given you the least degree of offence. I never had the
least idea of employing a junior officer to you to command
at the Leeward Islands while you wished for that Station,
and I could never devise that it could be imputed to me as
a crime that I had barely asked you the question, whether
you should like to be second to Lord Howe, which employment at this moment is held by a Rear-Admiral. You
mention Commodore Hotham's Pendant as an objection to
your being employed in America, as he is much junior.
Now I own I never thought of employing you on that service,
because you could only have been third in command, Sir
Peter Parker being on the spot. Had I proposed that
arrangement to you, I should have thought you might have
considered it as a slight; but I own I do not see my late
proposal in that light. However to cut this matter short,
and to convince you that my words and actions always keep
pace together, I will repeat to you that I know no officer in
the King's Service more fit to be trusted with a Command
than yourself, and that I have no intention of proposing
any officer junior to you for any foreign Command, unless
you are previously disposed of entirely to your satisfaction.
Nothing is done about the Leeward Islands; an Admiral
of rank and reputation has applied for it, but I have avoided
entering into any engagement about it as yet, as there is
nothing that makes it immediately necessary to recall
Admiral Young. I will acknowledge that a junior officer
to you did apply for the Command in question, but so far
was I from thinking of employing him in preference to you,
that my immediate answer to him was, that as Captain
Barrington had applied, it was impossible for me to recommend a junior officer.
I am, with great truth and regard, &c.,
Sandwich.
To The Secretary Of The Admiralty (P.R.O., Ad. I, 1497)
Prince of Wales,
Lat. 46° 25', Long. 10° 40°' W.
15 December, 1777.
Sir,
I have the pleasure to acquaint you that I have just
taken the Savanna Brigantine, James Johnston, Master,
from Georgia, laden with Rice, bound to Nantz. I have
ordered her to Plymouth; and am, &c.,
Saml Barrington.
To The Secretary Of The Admiralty (P.R.O., Ad. I, 1498)
Prince of Wales, Hamoze. 6 January, 1778.
Sir,
Having executed their Lordships' Order of the 12th November last, I am to acquaint you with my arrival here this
day. Although the Ship's Decks and Sides have been
twice caulked since the month of June last, yet she is in
more need of it than ever. She is so weak, and strains so
much in a sea that the Ocham works out of the Seams to
such a degree that the People never lay dry in their Beds;
and if I may be allowed to give an opinion, it is not fitting
she should go to sea again without her being Ridered.
I am, &c.,
Saml Barrington.
FROM THE EARL OF SANDWICH (FIRST LORD OF THE ADMIRALTY)
Admiralty. 18 January, 1778.
Dear Sir,
I am ignorant whether you have received a letter which
I wrote to you when you was on the point of sailing, and
which was in answer to yours which expressed yourself a
little dissatisfied at what I had said to you relative to your
having a foreign Command. I do again most sincerely
assure you that I have no object more at heart than that
of accommodating you to the utmost, and to have your
service where you yourself think it may be best applied for
the public good. I am however convinced that we shall
never understand one another by correspondence in letter;
I could therefore wish that as soon as you return from your
cruise you would take a trip to London for a few days that
I may have a little conversation with you, and let you know
the particular services on which Flag Officers will be shortly
wanted, when I am very certain I shall easily convince you
that I am, with the utmost truth and regard, &c,
Sandwich.