Autograph Letter Signed by Lieutenant William D.Nicolls, Royal Artillery, to his brother Gustavus Nicolls, Royal Engineers, at Woolwich (forwarded to Sheerness), explaining his progress to the Mediterranean with Sir Ralph Abercromby, following new orders received by Sir James Pulteney from England, complaining about the diet on board ship, asking for letters to be directed to Malta, deriding the Portuguese (”a rascally set”) by NAPOLEONIC WARS. Sir Ralph Abercromby’s Expeditionary Force, 1800

John Transport, Tagus [Portugal], 9 December 1800. 3 pp. 9 x 7 inches, generally in good clean condition, seal tear repaired, sent Packet Rate Lisbon to Falmouth, total endorsed 1s 8d. “Sir James Pulteney received dispatches from England on the 1st with orders for the 12th & 26th Dragoons together with the detachment of Artillery then at this place to proceed immediately for the Mediterranean to join Genl. Abercromby in consequence of which we embarked on the 4th and expect to sail in the course of a few days...” They had “demolished” all the ducks on board “for want of economy ... and from that time [at Portsmouth] till we arrived at Gibr. we had nothing but our own ship rations to live upon, this i should not have cared about had we been on active service but knocking from Tetuan to Cape Spartel and back again was quite insufferable.”