[Admiral Sir Richard Rodney Bligh, Royal Navy officer in American War of Independence.] Autograph Letter Signed to the Admiralty, regarding ‘Her Majesty’s Sloop the Wasp under my Command’.

Bligh’s entry in the Oxford DNB does not note his service on HMS Wasp, to which he was appointed in October 1774. According to one authority the ship ‘saw service out of Passage, County Cork, Ireland from [November 1774]. In October 1775 [Bligh] brought sixty volunteers from Ireland into Plymouth, and in June 1776 sailed from Portsmouth to Plymouth with money for the dockyard artificers. Towards the end of August, the Wasp arrived off the Devonshire port with ten transports bound for North America, and she then sailed for Ireland.’ Built in 1749, the 8-gun sloop the Wasp was sold off by the Royal Navy in 1781. In 1784, under the name Mentor, she was a slave ship. Good bold signature on letter of 1p, 4to. In fair condition, on aged and discoloured paper, with wear to corners and closed tear along the two postage folds. Addressed to ‘The Honourable The Principal Officers & Commissrs. of His Majesty’[s] Na[vy]’ (parts of last two word chipped away). Docketed ‘1: Decembr. 1775. / Wasp / Captn: Bligh / Book sent’ and ‘Recd. the above Muster Book / TM / 12 Decr. 1775’. The letter reads: ‘Gentlemen, / Yesterday I Lodged at the Clerk of the Checks Office at this Port, to be forwarded to your Board, One Monthly Book for September & October 1775 for His Majesty’s Sloop the Wasp under my Command, which please to Acknowledge the receipt off to Waterford in Ireland, as I shall sail for that place in a day or two. I am, with great respect, / Gentlemen, / Your most Obedient / Humble Servant R R Bligh’.