Letter to J.H. Addington

Signed letter,1pp., mailing folds, folio, Admiralty Office, 17th July 1817.

A letter to J. H. Addinton, saying he has put his letter before the Commissioners of the Admiralty and has “it in command to acquaint you that their Lordships having directed Commissioner Cunningham to furnish you for Lord Sidmouth’s information with a list of the Articles taken from those placed at his Lordship’s disposal for the sick men in the Batavier agreeably to your request.”, signed “John Barrow”.

The HMS Batavier was captured by the Royal Navy from the Batavian Navy on 30 August 1799. She functioned as a hospital ship from April 1809 until January 1817, after which she was moved to Blackwall to receive distressed seamen. Her final service was as a prison ship based at Sheerness from September 1817 until finally being broken up in March 1823. This letter was written in the short period when HMS Batavier was situated in Blackwall, London.

Barrow was appointed Second Secretary to the Admiralty in 1804. In this capacity he promoted British exploration, most notably of West Africa and the North Polar Region, with attempts to find a north-west passage from east to west through the Canadian Arctic.