CROMWELL | letter signed, addressed to the Commissioners of Admiralty and Navy, 1654/55

CROMWELL, OLIVER

LETTER SIGNED ("OLIVER P"), TO THE COMMISSIONERS OF ADMIRALTY AND NAVY

on preparations for the coming summer guard for shipping ("...These are to will & require you to prepare & deliver unto us a list of such ships (to the number of Fortie) with the number of their men & Guns as you shall judge first and most proper for the aforeseyd service..."), 1 page, folio, integral blank, Whitehall, 27 January 1654/55

A BOLD SIGNATURE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. The summer guard was employed to protect British merchant shipping from predation by pirates, especially the Barbary corsairs who not only attacked ships but engaged in slave raids on the south-west coast of England. It was to combat this threat that Admiral Blake launched an attack on Porto Farina harbour in Tunisia in April 1655.

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