RICHARD HOWE

RICHARD HOWE
(1725 - 1799) British admiral who sailed with his brother William to America to seek peace with the colonies and secure American loyalty to the crown. When his mission proved a failure, Howe commanded British naval forces for two years, during which he battled a superior fleet under the Count d'Estaing off Newport. Signed and annotated copy of a great-content British imprint: 'Instructions and Standing Orders for the General Government and Discipline of the Ships of War', 15pp. legal folio, [n.p., but almost certainly at the London Naval Office, n.d.], bearing excellent content about the organization and procedures upon British warships, including: 'The ships companies are to be exercised at all convenient times with the great guns and small arms, until they become expert...Captains are at liberty to fire in the exercise of the small arms when they see fit...have them instructed and practised their raw men to go aloft...guns are to be kept, loaded with powder only, for making signals...' Howe signs at the conclusion in ink, adding numerous hand-written annotations throughout and adding at the conclusion: 'Given onboard His Majesty's Ship the Queen Charlotte at Spithead, the 25th July 1790.' The Queen Charlotte was Howe's flagship, at the Battle of the Glorious First of June, and in 1795 she took part in the Battle of Groix. She was completed on July 7th, 1980 - just over two weeks before this document was hand-dated by Howe. At lower-left, Howe bestows the document in his own hand: 'to Sir Rich. Bickerton Bart. Rear Admiral of the Blue...By Command of the Admiral Josh. Davies'. Left margin reinforced with tape at spots, horizontal folds, else fine condition. RICHARD BICKERTON, 1ST BARONET (1727 - 1792) was a British naval officer who finished his career as a rear admiral, served in several naval engagements, and died as Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth.