| Main text |
Most Humble Report!
As soon as the schooners purchased in America and their masters had arrived here, the outfitting was immediately begun which consumed much time, partly because these schooners were not arranged as warships, partly because illness occurred among their crews, and partly because the cannon issued from home which did not fit and had to be installed differently.
Since I have made it a holy and unbreakable duty to tell Your Majesty, in every matter, the entire truth as I see it, I must declare that in this matter, I believe it would have been better to contract for new schooners intended as warships at $13,000 each, as could have been done, rather than purchasing, at a lower price, these schooners which were not originally built as warships. Firstly, as the bill for their outfitting will show, it will be higher, and after this expense has been incurred, nothing is finished and complete. The next difficulty has consisted of the fact that, from home, 12 cannon have been issued for each of these schooners and 25 men as crew. Everyone who knows schooner sailing certainly knows that for the handling of sails only on a schooner carrying 12 18 pounder cannon, a crew of 25 is required and thus, to let the schooners go among the pirates with such a crew would be irresponsible and expose Your Majesty’s flag to insult and officers to humiliation.
The schooners purchased though fairly large, could, however, not carry more than 8 cannon; besides, even for this armament the crewing is inadequate as it ought to consist of at least 50 men.
To help matters to the extent circumstances allowed, to save, and since the seas at that time were calm, I issued the order, dated August the 24th 1817, that as the schooners were completed, only one should be activated, be manned by both crews and that the command should alternate monthly between the two schooner masters; however, since, for the reasons mentioned above, the outfitting was so sorely protracted, no actual cruising took place prior to the arrival of the frigate Minerva, upon which time captain Krieger followed the same plan, and as illness had claimed a multitude of both schooners crews, he yielded crews from the frigate to Macaria.
The schooners actually sail quite well; one is new, the other (Macaria) old, and neither of them constructed of the correct, as are American men of war, - |