Most Excellent Sir,
Your Excellency will excuse the liberty with which I remit now by the hand of the interim Governor here, the enclosed package, and small parcel, addressed to His Excellency Sr. Baylio Valdés, Secretary of State and of the Marine. I beg of Your Excellency to have the goodness to pass them on to the Court, and at the same time have the satisfaction to inform the Court, that the Corvettes Descubierta and Atrevida of the Royal Navy are felicitously pursuing the Voyage upon which they were sent.
It would be culpable if one omitted as well on this occasion to bring before the notice of Your Excellency that there has been no attention nor generosity which we have not been favoured with in this Colony, both from Major Grose, the Commander of the Regiment here and interim Governor of the Settlements, and from all the other Officialdom and Inhabitants: not merely have they corresponded completely with the intentions of His Britannic Majesty concerning this Expedition, but also have suffered as much as could dictate the finest education, the most attentive Hospitality, and the closest union between the two Nations.
May Our Lord grant Your Excellency many years,
Corvette Descubierta at anchor in Port Jackson in New South
Wales,
9th April 1793
Most Excnt Sir, Alexandro Malaspina
1 Archivo General de Simancas, Estado, legajo 8159. Text courtesy of, and translated by, Robert King.
Updated: June 5, 2018