This letter, you will observe, is not intended to meet the public
eye, but merely to put the Government in possession of facts
necessary for its information.

Our cartridges are all unfit for service, and I have been obliged
to cut up every flag and ensign that could be spared, to render them
serviceable, so as to prevent the men's arms being blown off whilst
working the guns, and also to prevent the constant necessity of
sponging, &c. which, from the time it consumes, diminishes the
effective force of the ships fully one half.

The guns are without locks--which they ought to have had in
order to their being efficient.

The sails of this ship are all rotten--the light and baffling airs on
our way hither, having beaten one set to pieces, and the others
are hourly giving way to the slightest breeze of wind.

The bed of the mortar which I received on board this ship was
crushed on the first fire--being entirety rotten; the fuzes for the
shells are formed of such wretched composition that it will not take
fire with the discharge of the mortar, and are consequently unfit
for use on board a ship where it is extremely dangerous to kindle
the fuze otherwise than by the explosion; even the powder with
which this ship is supplied is so bad, that six pounds will not
throw our shells more than a thousand yards, instead of double that
distance.

The marines neither understand gun exercise, the use of
small arms, nor the sword, and yet have so high an opinion of