ope, being supposed to have
presumed too much on my own judgment and experience to assert,
that a ship leaving that port in the end of September, or
beginning of October, taking her route by Cape Horn, would have
reached England as soon as I have. The time I stopped at such
places as I was obliged to touch at, will appear in the
narrative.

If ever government should find it necessary to send ships to
that country, which may be intended to return immediately from
thence to England, I beg leave to suggest to your lordships, that
the particular seasons in the southern hemisphere should be
considered, in order to prevent those delays in the return of the
ships which must inevitably attend their sailing at an
unfavourable time.

If such ships leave England in February, or earlier, if found
more convenient, they should refresh at Rio de Janeiro in
preference to the Cape of Good Hope; as by the time they could
arrive at the Cape the north-west winds will be setting in there,
which will oblige them to go into the False bay; this will
considerably encrease their expences, and probably occasion some
delay: sail immediately from Rio Janeiro for the coast of New
South Wales, where, if they are not uncommonly unfortunate, they
will arrive early in September; this is giving them good
time.

They will then have time to clear, ballast, and to refresh
their people for six weeks or two months, and return by Cape
Horn; or, if the western passage be found preferable, the season
will be equally favourable for it. If they should take their
route by Cape Horn, as they will no doubt require to refresh
somewhere in their voyage home, they may either stop at Santa
Catherina or Rio Janeiro, on the Brazil coast, or go to the Cape;
in this case I would recommend the Cape, as more convenient, in
more respects than one. If they are sickly, there they may get a
supply of men, which it is well known they cannot at either of
the other places; and in sailing from the Cape homeward they will
have the advantage of being to windward; however, if as late as
April, they would probably prefer Brazil. If water only were
wanted, that could be had at Falkland's Islands.

In taking the liberty to offer these hints, I mean only, that
in order to prevent any loss of time, upon such a service, the
ships may be dispatched from England in such time as to insure
their having the Summer months to return either by Cape Horn, or
the western route, as may be direct