Naval History and Heritage Command

Vice Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly, Commander, Naval Forces, to Anne Hitchcock Sims

[Extract]

 Admiralty House, 

Queenstown.

7. 9. 17

Dear Mrs. Sims

. . . .It is a pity that Russia has thrown the war back another two years,1 but as in Napoleonic days we must grin & bear it; we have got to win or to disappear, & better to die fighting than the latter. When one thinks of how despondent Washington must have been at times when we were getting the better of him, and the States would not help him, one cannot but feel glad at the way we are winning & thankful for our successes.

Good luck to you

Yours very sincerely

Lewis Bayly