[ANGLO-SPANISH WAR etc.]
MAN, ROBERT, Admiral. Autograph letter signed from Gibraltar to Rear Admiral Hyde Parker at Santo Domingo, accompanied by a signed order. On board H.M.S. Windsor Castle, in the straits of Gibraltar: 28 July 1796. A three-page autograph letter signed "RMan" on a bifolium of watermarked laid paper, 9 x 7 inches (23 x 18 cm), fine; accompanied by a secretarially prepared order of the same date signed by Mann, this on a long sheet of watermarked laid paper, 13 x 8 inches (33 x 20 cm), small losses at foot.

A naval letter with good content written from Gibraltar during the Anglo-Spanish War, recently begun: "The information I convey to you is of so certain a nature that I am now proceeding with the squadron I have with me, to join Sir John Jervis, for on our junction alone depends I think the fate of both, jointly, 22 sail of the line, but separate, 15 & 7, which can never stand against the united force of our present enemy and those on the eve of being so." This is written at the time Admiral Mann sailed to Toulon with supplies for Admiral Sir John Jervis's blockading fleet. Mann here sends this letter, along with a signed order, to inform Admiral Parker, optimally found at Cape Nichola Mole in Santo Domingo. The letter is long, written in a rushed hand and difficult to read, but continues mentioning the "intention of Don Solano proceeding with a fleet to the Havanna." Long letters such as this informing naval officials in the West Indies of happenings in the Mediterranean are scarce and this letter contains desirable content; together with a single-page letter of Vice-Admiral Hollis on board the Mermaid, written from Bermuda to Sir John Duckworth, Jamaica, regarding provisioning, dated 9th January, 1805 Generally sound condition; and a letter of Admiral Loring on board the Bellerophon, written off Cape Maize, also to Sir John Duckworth, dated 26th July, 1803, regarding the blockade of Cape, Francois, Saint-Domingue by the British ships Elephant, Bellerophon, Theseus, Vanguard, and Tartar. This announces a naval engagement in which a 74-gun vessel, the Duquesne, was taken. Stains, old tears, small losses not affecting legibility.