Folios 137-138: Robert Mansel, HMS Beschermer, off Harwich. Acknowledging Admiralty...

Folios 137-138: Robert Mansel, HMS Beschermer, off Harwich. Acknowledging Admiralty letter of 15 September, in which their lordships advise of their disapprobation of his having complained of the want of a vessel to serve the ship, and in which a reference to the Victualling Board mentions supplies of stores and water for ships at the mouth of the Thames have been constantly sent on board. He assures them that he certainly had no intention of implying that his ship had not been properly supplied by the Victualling Board's hired vessels. Reference to his letters of 25 August and 5 September will show that his request for a tender was primarily to assist the sending and collection of letters and other communications, and for greater safety in the winter months, as he feared the loss of his crewmembers. His account of the price of a hired vessel during the last war being disputed also, he points out that he was not referring to a vessel hired by the Victualling Board, but a tender hired by the Beschermer.