H. M. S. Ulysses, Nov. 30.
The uncertainty of the law has established itself into an adage: but I
begin to suspect that, proverbial as it is, it must yield to the greater
incertitude of military service. In my last letter I mentioned to you
that we were to proceed to Cove the moment the wind was fair, and, in
this idea, we had written to our friends desiring them not to address
us, again, at Spithead; but to send their letters to Ireland, that they
might meet us at Cork. Now, we find that our destination is again
changed, and within the few last days, it has been so rapidly altered
and confirmed, fixed, reversed, and varied, that we are totally at a
loss on what assurance to depend.
At present it is reported that three forty-four gun ships, viz. the
Ulysses, the Experiment, and the Charon, are to take in the troops,
which were in such extreme peril, during the gale, on board the vast and
unwieldy Commerce de Marseilles, and to run out with them, as speedily
as possible, to the West Indies.
Consistent with this arrangement, vessels came alongside the Ulysses
early on the morning of the 26th instant, for the purpose of removing
the St. Domingo stores; and the hospital packages, which were stowed in
this ship, are now distributed into two or three vessels; which is an
improvement, gained by the change, for should either of these ships
chance to be lost, captured, or delayed, still a proportion of the
stores may safely arrive in the others. Further advantages may also
derive from the distribution, as an assortment will be more conveniently
at hand for any case of emergency; such as immediate or unexpected
service, detachments, or supplying particular islands or colonies.
It were difficult to acknowledge similar advantages from the separation
of our happy and social mess, although we are, likewise, obliged to
divide our stores, and mess-apparatus, being now instructed to make the
voyage in different ships. This is matter of high regret to us all, and
the more so, as we had been long enough together to become well
acquainted, and happy in each other’s society, besides having jointly
provided ourselves for the voyage.
We have received orders to repair, two of us to the George and Bridget,
and two to the Lord Sheffield: Dr. Master and myself feel ourselves
fortunate in being appointed to the latter, for we had visited the
George and Bridget, and had not acquired any predilection in her favor.
The Lord Sheffield we have not yet seen, but her captain tells us that
she is a fast-sailing ship, and fitted up in a superior style, with her
cabin “neat, light, and lively as a drawing-room.” We do not give
implicit confidence to the report of one so strongly interested in
speaking her fair: but the probabilities are much in her favor, she
being a West India trader, and, no doubt, better fitted for passengers,
and better adapted, in all respects, for a tropical climate. The George
and Bridget is a large Baltic timber ship, and, of course, has not had
the same occasion either for conveying or accommodating passengers.
We have met with many of the officers at Portsmouth who were out, in the
fleet, during the late destructive gale. Their accounts are afflicting
beyond all the suggestions even of fearful anticipation. Deducting in
due allowance for the augmented terrors of young and fresh-water
sailors, still the whole scene, and its result have been most painfully
disastrous; for, melancholy to repeat! multitudes of souls have
perished; and six or seven vessels have not been heard of since the
storm.