In-letters and orders received by the Navy Board

Copy of a letter written aboard the RUBY at Spithead in which James May relates that he was present when a large mast was retrieved near Hampton River issuing from Cowes just before last Christmas when he, May, was aboard the ANN Pink belonging to London Edmund Crimar Master when bound for Malaga. He continues by saying that they carried the mast to Cadiz where it was disposed of for four hundred and fifty dollars though he suspected that it sold for more than that. They then continued to Malaga but by the time they returned to Cadiz it had been sold, the money going to the Master of his ship who lives at Redriff near East Lane Stairs. However, being a Crown servant of some standing he felt it his duty to report the matter.