The Right Hon. Henry Dundas to the Lords of the
Admiralty. (Banks Papers.)^‡

I transmit to your Lordships herewith the duplicate and translation of a letter from Count Florida Blanca,^§ signifying his Catholic Majesty’s orders to the Spanish officer commanding at Nootka to cause such officer as may be appointed on the part of his Majesty to be put in possession of the buildings and districts page 129 or parcells of land therein described, which were occupied by his subjects in the month of April, 1789, agreeably to the first article of the late convention; and also to deliver up any persons in the service of British subjects who may have been detained in those parts.

The Dædalus transport having, I understand, taken on board the provisions and stores demanded by Capt. Vancouver for the supply of the Discovery and Chatham, tender, it is his Majesty’s pleasure that your Lordships should order Lieut. Hergest, her commander, the moment she is ready for sea, to proceed with her to the Sandwich Islands, and on meeting with Captain Vancouver to deliver to him the letters above mentioned relative to the restitutions, and to put himself under his direction for the execution of this service, in order that Capt. Vancouver may be impeded as little as possible in the progress of his intended survey; but as the season is now so far advanced, it appears extremely probable that Captain Vancouver will have left the Sandwich Islands before the arrival of the Dædalus, and if it should so happen, Lieut. Hergest should be directed to make the best of his way to Nootka, where he may expect to be met by a Spanish officer, to whom he is to deliver Count Florida Blanca’s letter, and to receive from him, on the part of his Majesty, possession of the buildings and districts or parcells of land of which his Majesty’s subjects were possessed at that port, as well as at Port Cox and any other places on that coast; and having so done he is to await at Nootka until he shall be joined by Capt. Vancouver, who, as your Lordships will see by an extract of a letter from him, may be expected there in the course of the next summer.

During L’t Hergest’s continuance at Nootka or elsewhere on the American coast, he is to avoid with the utmost caution the giving any ground of complaint to the subjects or officers of his Catholic Majesty whom he may meet with, and to treat them in the most amicable and friendly manner; and if he should fall in with any Spanish ships employed on the said coast, he is to afford to the officer commanding such ships every possible degree of assistance and information, and he is to offer to him that they should make to each other reciprocally a free and unreserved communication of all plans and charts of discoveries made by them during their respective voyages. He is also to be particularly enjoined to treat in the most friendly manner the subjects or vessels of any other power or state or any of the native Indians which he may happen to meet with, and to be careful not to do anything which may give occasion to any interruption of that peace which now happily subsists between his Majesty and all other powers.

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Your Lordships will likewise instruct L’t Hergest on no account whatever to touch at any port on the continent of America to the southward of the lat. of 30° No., unless from any accident he should find it necessary for his immediate safety to take shelter there, and in case of such an event to continue there no longer than may be absolutely necessary. This restriction should also be strongly enforced on Capt. Vancouver, in order to prevent his having any communication with that part of the coast comprised within the lat. above mentioned and that part of South America where on his return home he is directed to commence his intended survey, that any complaints on the part of Spain upon this point may, if possible, be prevented.

From the nature of the service on which Capt. Vancouver is employed, a variety of circumstances may occur which may prevent his reaching the port of Nootka during the ensuing summer. If it should so happen, or that he does not arrive there before the month of November, it will be proper that Lieut. Hergest should be directed to proceed from thence to Karahoa Bay, and endeavour to fall in with him there or elsewhere in the Sandwich Islands, where Capt. Vancouver proposes to pass the winter.

As the Dædalus, after this service shall have been performed, is intended to be employed in N. S. Wales under the orders of Governor Phillip, it will be proper that your Lordships should direct Capt. Vancouver not to detain her at Nootka or at the Sandwich Islands any longer than may be absolutely necessary, but to dispatch her to Port Jackson with such live stock and other refreshments as may be likely to be of use in the settlement there, directing L’t Hergest to touch at New Zealand in his way and endeavour to take with him a flax-dresser or two, in order that the new settlers may, if possible, be properly instructed in management of that valuable plant. Previous, however, to his dispatching the Dædalus he will consider whether, in case of his not being able to take on board the whole of her cargo, any future supply of those articles will be necessary to enable him to continue his intended survey, and, if so, that he will be careful to send notice thereof to Governor Phillip, who, on the receipt of such application, will be directed to redispatch the Dædalus or to send some other vessel to him with the remainder of those supplies, and any others which he may be able to furnish to such rendezvous as Capt. Vancouver may think fit to appoint.

I enclose to your Lordships herewith a sketch of the coast of America, extending from Nootka down to the latitude 47° 30 ″, including the inlet or Gulph of Juan de Fuca, referred to in my former dispatch.^* The surveys from which this sketch was page 131 compiled are said to have been made by one of the ships under M. de Martinez, in the year 1790, and will probably be found to be of use on the intended expedition. This sketch was obtained by Lord St. Helens from Count Florida Blanca, and I have the satisfaction of informing your Lordships that from the declarations which have lately been made by that Minister there appears to be the strongest disposition on the part of his Court that every assistance and information should be given to his Majesty’s officers employed upon that coast, with a view to the enabling them to carry their orders into full execution.

If either Capt. Vancouver or Lieut. Hergest during their continuance on the American coast should meet with any of the Chinese who were engaged by Mr. Meares and his associates, or any of his Majesty’s subjects who may have been in captivity, they are to be directed to receive them on board, and to accommodate them in the best manner they may be able, until such time as opportunities may be found of sending them to the different places to which they may be desirous of being conveyed.