Folios 179-180: John Waller, HMS Serpent, off Jamaica. Rear Admiral [James] Dacres,...

Folios 179-180: John Waller, HMS Serpent, off Jamaica. Rear Admiral [James] Dacres, Commander at Jamaica, has forwarded to him several letters concerning a boat from HMS Serpent boarding various vessels off Falmouth on 16 May 1805 with a view to impressment and asked for his report. In addition to his letter of 31 August 1805 to the Commander in Chief, wishes to report that however wrongly he acted he took great care to avoid communication for some time afterwards and did not allow the boat to rejoin the ship until she was at sea and the Pilot had left, took every precaution to avoid any contagion spreading and has had no death or dangerous illness aboard since that time. Is not trying to avoid blame for his actions but states that he did not send the boat without the sanction of a senior officer, and did not consider the matter to be as serious as it has turned out. He needed several good hands during his time at Falmouth and did everything he could to secure them.