Swiftsure at Sea, 21st Feb. 1810
My dear Governor,
I could not suffer an opportunity of sending to Bermuda to pass without expressing the earnest wishes of all your ci-devant Messmates that your Excellency enjoys health & quiet in your new government. We are as you left us, dull beyond description without a chance of changing the scene. The capitulation of Guadaloupe, of which the Vesta gives us account, terminates the French possessions in the Western world, and with it all our hopes of prize-money. We may therefore return to Bermuda, and with your Excellency, enjoy the good things of that delightful clime, where “none sickly lives, or dies before his time.”
I salute your Excellency, and remain with very sincere regard,
Your Excellency’s friend
John Gullett
[Note: This letter is one of several written to Thomas Waters Sr. by his former messmates while he was serving as Commandant of Forces on Ireland Island, Bermuda. Any references to “Ireland” really mean Ireland Island.]