Folios 189-190: John Sprat Rainier, London. Complains that the 'want of a poop' is...

Folios 189-190: John Sprat Rainier, London. Complains that the 'want of a poop' is having a very material effect on the officers' accommodation aboard his ship, the Norge, particularly since the appointment of a chaplain. As she has only two gun decks he feels that having 6 lieutenants is not strictly necessary and if their Lordships approve he could dispense with one of them - in which case he would like the officer removed to be Mr Charles Escourt Day.

Folios 191-192: enclosure with folios 189-190. Internal note, for Charles Escourt Day, aged 24, to be appointed to a sloop at Portsmouth.

Folios 193-194: enclosure with folios 189-190. An unsigned internal letter to Sir Joseph Yorke, 18 February 1812. Writes that the regulations dated 5 June 1795 state that 3rd raters with 50 more men than the usual complement of 74s should be equipped with 6 lieutenants. The Norge fits this description in having 640 men. He has no recollection of any captain having asked before for a reduction in his crew, but the note suggests that a captain may be trusted to be the best judge of how many lieutenants he needs, and as the Norge is not an English-built vessel perhaps the reduction may be allowed in this case. A PS adds that she is 'poop-less' which also squeezes the officers' accommodation.