Box 3

Scope and Contents This vellum-bound volume contains copies of letters written and received by James Hawkins Whitshed, Rear Admiral of the White, on board Queen Charlotte.Letters sent: Acknowledgement of various Admiralty orders and routine reports related to the ship’s complement, condition, fitting, etc. Copy of a letter to Evan Nepean stating “I am just arrived off [Gibraltar]. Earl St. Vincent having sailed from hence, I will lose no time in trying to form a junction with his fleet.” Whitshed reports that both the French and Spanish fleets have passed the Gut and St. Vincent has sailed in pursuit of them, 1799 May 19 Copy of a letter reporting intelligence on the movements of the French fleet, consisting of 29 sail, seen between Majorca and Minorca on the 13th steering to the NE. He also reports that the Spanish fleet met with a heavy gale and “several of them are much crippled,” 1799 May 21 Copy of a letter to St. Vincent announcing Whitshed’s imminent appearance with his squadron and included intelligence and a report received from Capt. Bowen reporting that the French force has been diminished by at least five sail and perhaps more, “a more sanguine mind would perhaps conclude a much greater number disabled.” Bowen also reports information obtained from a Swedish freighter, boarded by a French frigate off Majorca. The Swedish captain reports that the French force was 13 days out of Brest and that he did not observe any troops aboard the...