Office of the Historian

Mr. Seward to Lord Lyons.

Department of State, Washington, December 16, 1862.

My Lord: At the instance of the Secretary of the Navy, to whom it has been referred, I have the honor to communicate an extract from a despatch of the 23d ultimo, addressed to this department by Mr. Whiting, late United States consul at Nassau. From this paper it appears that Captain Malcolm, of her Britannic Majesty’s ship Barracouta, threatened to fire upon United States war vessels which should anchor in the waters of Nassau without the governor’s permission. With a view to obviate the obvious consequences of a proceeding of that character, it is hoped that all proper instructions will be given to commanders of her Majesty’s vessels in that quarter. The Navy Department has issued stringent orders to United States naval commanders scrupulously to respect the sovereign territorial rights and all local regulations in her Britannic Majesty’s possessions.

I have the honor to be your obedient servant,

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

Right Hon. Lord Lyons, &c., &c., &c.

[Extract referred to in the above note]

Captain Malcolm also stated that a pilot, named Lloyd, who had gone off to the flag-ship, had told him that when he informed the admiral that he could not anchor without first obtaining the governor’s permission to do so, the admiral or executive officer of the flag-ship had replied that he should anchor if he saw fit, without reference to the governor’s permission.

Captain Malcolm further said that he considered it due to me that he should inform me of his determination, if either the United States vessels should anchor off this port without the governor’s permission, he should fire on them at once, and that he had put his ship in readiness before leaving her to come on shore.

I suggested that a drunken Bahama pilot’s dictum was not the best authority in the world, and would hardly warrant a resort to extremities, in which Captain Malcolm concurred.