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4 St. George Sq. Portsea
Feby.11.99.
Dear Sir
I received yours of the 9th Yesty. & should have answered it by return of post, but waited to see Mr. Scott, or go onboard myself to make the proper enquiries of him respecting the weight of the Garden &c but the Weather being very bad I have not been able to go off, nor Mr. Scott to come onshore - I lament very much the necessity there appears for removing the Garden, as the loss to the Colony will be very great, And the benefit that would have resulted from your bounty & labour to that part of the World be entirely done away - The Complaint against the Ship by Mr. Scott, who I have not seen since his first landing, (as he returned onboard immediately after) Is her Bad Sailing, & not answering her Helm, when going large; Also her extreme tenderness & inability to carry sail - The instances he gave me of this was, That, when going large with a fresh Gale at ENE, he had all his square & flying Sails out, whilst nearly the whole of his Convoy 83 Sail, could with dificulty be kept astern of him, they having little & no sails set - And that whilst going large, his Ship frequently Yawed so much against her Helm, as to make the Vessels near him run foul of each other - As the Garden has nothing to do with this, I shall pass on to her extreme Crankness - After the Porpoise & a great part of the Convoy were driven past [indecipherable] & had to beat to hindward, when the Gale moderated, Mr. Scott found it Hazardous to carry Double or Close Reef) Topsails, Fore Sail, Main Topt. & Mizn. Stay sails; whilst a Vessel considerably to Leeward of him soon got to Windward, Carrying Whole Topsails Mn. T Gallant sail & Courses - Which inability of carrying a proper press of Sail might be of serious consequences on a Lee Shore, from which it would be impossible to beat off, And therefore recommended the Garden being removed from the height it was placed on, to the 'tween decks - As a probable means of making the Ship more Stiff - As near as I can recollect the above is Substance of Mr. Scotts observations putting respecting the bad Qualitys of the Ship -
Respecting her Bad Sailing & steerage, they may in some measure be improved by consulting her trim, when in Moderate Latitudes; altho' from the Construction of the Ship, I never found any evidence of her sailing even tolerably, which perhaps would have been the Case, had Four feet been added to her length - however as this does not concern the Garden, I will give you my ideas