Advertisement concerning Commandos on the Frontier. Proclamation by Sir John Cradock Letter from Major Lyster to Lieutenant Colonel Reynell Letter from Thomas Lack, Esqre., to H. Goulburn, Esqre. Enclosure concerning Land Tenures at the Cape Letter from Fiscal Denyssen to Lieutenant Colonel Foster Letter from James Baller, Esqre., to H. Goulburn, Esqre. Letter from Sir John Cradock to Colonel Torrens Proclamation by Sir John Cradock RECORDS OF THE CAPE COLONY. [Original.] Letter from REAR ADMIRAL STOPFORD to J. W. CROKER, ESQRE. Scipion, TABLE BAY, 1st March 1811. SIR, I have the Honor to acknowledge the Receipt of your Letter of the 8th October last (and a duplicate thereof) conveying to me the directions of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to report my opinion of the Measure proposed by Commissioner Shield of having only one Naval Establishment at the Cape of Good Hope. Considering the proposed Measure as one which would accelerate the Equipment of His Majesty's Ships upon this Station, there can be no doubt of its propriety. The Expence of the removal of the whole naval Establishment, from Cape Town to Simon's Bay, and the Erection of the buildings at the latter place for their Reception, is calculated (though not with great Accuracy) at £50,000. In order to defray part of this sum, and in Compliance with their Lordships' directions contained in your Letter of the 13th October to cause an estimate to be made of the value of all the naval storehouses and premises, of every description now at Cape Town belonging to the Navy, supposing the same were sold at Auction, I applied to His Excellency the Earl of Caledon, and am informed by His Lordship that all the Buildings above referred to are public colonial Property. All such property being mortgaged as a security for the paper currency exclusively used in this Colony, the alienation of such property would of Course affect this circulating medium, and the sale of these buildings cannot therefore take place until other adequate security is pledged for the above purpose, which I am told cannot readily be procured. Another Circumstance attending the alienation of this public & VIII. property is the insecurity of its Tenure. At the time of the Dutch resuming Possession of this colony in the Year 1803, all public property which had been sold by the antecedent British Government was reclaimed, and the possessors obliged to restore it to the Dutch, upon receiving what was considered an equivalent. Having communicated with Commissioner Shield, who has profited by his longer Residence to make the necessary calculations for the furtherance of this Measure, I am informed by him that independent of any Sum arising from the sale of the present buildings used by the Navy, he is of Opinion that in ten or twelve Years the Savings which would accrue, in consequence of having only one Establishment, would cover the Expence originally incurred by the removal of the arsenal from Cape Town to Simon's Bay. Having stated this much to their Lordships, I have to regret that it will be impossible for me to procure in time to go by the Boadicea an Exact Estimate of the Expence of erecting at Simon's Bay all Such Storehouses, Lodgings, etc., as I may consider necessary, in addition to those already there, for all the naval purposes required on this Station, but shall transmit it by the next Opportunity that offers. It remains for me to state to their Lordships my opinion of the Expediency of making Simon's Bay the principal resort of the Ships upon this Station, considering it as a Secure Harbor, and easy of access to it, or departure from it. That the Harbor is a Secure one is undeniable, capable of con taining five or six sail of the Line and the same Number of Frigates. Before it can be considered safe of access, it will be necessary to buoy a dangerous rock in False Bay, called the Whittle, upon which several of the Indiamen have struck, the Marks for it being too indistinct for strangers to rely upon them. Commissioner Shield acquaints me that he has made a Requisition for the necessary materials of large dimensions, to be sent from England for the above purpose, as former buoys have been frequently; washed away by the heavy seas. From the Months of December to April the South-East winds blow pretty constantly, and generally very fresh. At such times I think it very difficult for ships to work out of Simon's Bay, and indeed a squadron under command of Lord Keith was detained for some days without a possibility of moving, at a time when an Enemy's squadron was upon the Coast, so that in the Months abovementioned I should propose the ships repairing to Table Bay as soon as their refitting was completed in Simon's Bay. I shall by the next Opportunity convey to their Lordships such further Information and Observations as may be necessary to enable their Lordships to come to a decision upon the Subject. I have &c. ROBERT STOPFORD, Rear Admiral. (Signed) [Original.] Letter from REAR ADMIRAL STOPFORD to J. W. CROKER, ESQRE. Scipion, TABLE BAY, 1st March 1811. SIR,-You will be pleased to acquaint my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty that His Majesty's ships President, Malacca, and Galatea, arrived in Table Bay on the 22nd Instant. As soon as the Malacca has completed her Water and received as much provisions as she can stow, it is my Intention to send that Ship to the Isle of France for the purpose of relieving the Phoebe, which ship having got on shore in Port Louis has received some Injury in her Bottom, which makes it necessary for her to be hove down or docked, and conceiving that she can now be spared from the station, I shall send her to England, where her Repairs will more effectually and more economically be made good than by heaving down at Port Louis. The President is nearly ready for Sea, but the Galatea has been under the necessity of taking out her Fore and Main Masts, the former being found much wrung and very weak in the Head; the Main Mast also weak in the Head and requiring a Stout fish to be brought on. In Consequence of Captain Losack's representation of the ship being overmasted (being the Masts of a 38 Gun Ship), I have directed the Fore and Main Masts to be shortened two feet each. La Manche prize Frigate arrived here from the Isle of France on the 7th Ultimo, having carried away her topmasts off the Cape, and forced her to get others. I have made no Alteration in the Appointments of that ship as ordered by Vice Admiral Bertie, she is under the charge of Lieutenant Edward Grimes, one of the Lieutenants of the Iphigenia at the time of the Capture of that ship, and manned by drafts from the Crews of the other ships taken at Port Sud-Est. I think it necessary to mention for their Lordships' information that His Excellency Lord Caledon having represented to me, by Letter, that the Reverend Doctor Halloran, late Chaplain of His Majesty's Ship Leopard but residing in this Colony, having been by Sentence of the Court of Justice banished the Colony, and his presence being injurious to its peace, and requesting I would order him a passage to England in some ship, I have directed him to be received on board La Manche and to proceed to England in her accordingly. Doctor Halloran's Crime was writing a defamatory Libel against Lieutenant General Grey, Commander in Chief of His Majesty's Forces at this place. I shall send the Boadicea to England according to my former intention, and have directed Lord Nevill to take La Manche under his Convoy and to touch at St. Helena for the purpose of giving protection to any ships which he may find there bound to England, directing his Lordship to attend to the Instructions conveyed in your Letter to me of the 23rd November last containing their Lordships' Orders relative to Convoys homeward bound. As I expect the return of their Lordships' Regulations relative to the Isle of France and Bourbon about the end of May, I shall be much disposed to defer my departure to those Islands until I can be the bearer of such Instructions, but thinking it not improbable that the Enemy, elated with the Accounts of the Loss of the English Frigates in Port Sud-Est, may, with a View of maintaining the Superiority of numbers acquired upon that occasion, push out more Ships and perhaps Troops, I shall reinforce the Squadron at the Isle of France by sending the President there as soon as she is ready. The President and Malacca will take as much provisions as they can stow, for the purpose of supplying the Squadron now there, as there is no transport here by which any Supplies can be sent. I daily expect to hear from the Isle of France, but nothing has arrived from thence since the 7th Ultimo. I will use my utmost Endeavor to furnish their Lordships with the. Information alluded to in your Letter of the 9th December relative to the Isle of France and Bourbon. I have etc. *(Signed),・・ ROBERT STOPFORD, Rear Admiral.. |