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[Page 2]
are making any preparations of consequence. As to the ships going into the Mass Deep, it is their proper place to lie as soon as the Winter Season is over - in the New Deep, the [they] haul in out of the Tide, and are secure during the Winter months; but if it was a profound peace they could not lie there in the Summer Months, therefore by their lying in the Mass Deep, which seems to create some alarm, we are only to understand that there they may perfectly equip themselves for sea, but not that they can sail when the [they] please, for the great difficulty is to get out after they are ready, & I believe they have 28 points of the wind against them, for generally speaking NE to East are the winds to lead them out.
With respect to their having sails bent, & loosing them by signal, which is thought to prove they are equiped, I think it is forgot, that having sails bent is necessary to the exercising of the Men, and if they are bent at all, surely it is absolutely