A letter of marque should be granted to all vessels carrying a certain number of men, empowering the commanders, under certain sureties and penalties, to exercise this power.

It would be a boon to the East India ships, and ultimately a benefit to the navy.
To proceed.

The merchant ships of the Company are men-of-war; the men-of-war of the Company are--what shall I call them?
By their right names--they are all _Bombay Marine_: but let me at once assert, in applying their own name to them as a reproach, that the officers commanding them are not included in the stigma.

I have served with them, and have pleasure in stating that, taking the average, the vessels are as well officered as those in our own service; but let us describe the vessels and their crews.
Most of the vessels are smaller in scantling than the run down (and constantly _going down_) ten-gun brigs in our own service, built for a light draft of water (as they were originally intended to act against the pirates, which occasionally infest the Indian seas), and unfit to contend with anything like a heavy sea.

Many of them are pierced for, and actually carry fourteen to sixteen guns; but, as effective fighting vessels, ought not to have been pierced for more than eight.