Commander Charles Brown1 (1789-1869) to James 55 Hans Place  August 17th 1868 My dear James, Very

Commander Charles Brown¹ (1789-1869) to James

55 Hans Place 
August 17th 1868
My dear James,
Very pleased to hear of your safe arrival at the Cape of Good Hope, a place I have still a great regard for having enjoyed a few pleasant years there, while serving under my late kind friend Commodore J. Nourse². I daresay Cape Town is greatly improved since that time, also Simon's Town, but the latter not in so great a degree. The bit of Cape Heath is indeed quite a treat, having in years gone by many agreeable rambles over those hills from whence I presume it was taken.
I assure you it affords me great pleasure to find that my efforts and intentions in promoting your welfare were found so valuable and your getting on so well is a great satisfaction to me, that your good conduct has secured that which I was so desirous you should attain.
Proceed on in a steady course and you will do well, will be a credit to yourself and happiness to your family and friends. Commit your ways unto the Lord, He will direct your path and make all work together for good and bring you peace at the last.
I can fancy how jollily you speak the day you crossed the Line.
Very extraordinary your not meeting any people during the voyage to the Cape. In what long. did you cross the Line, it appears you did not touch at Madeira, Rio or sight Tristan de Cunha. Your passage was tolerable 48 days but probably you used steam occasionally. In 1816 I made a run out in an old 10 Gun Brig in 58 days, stopping 2 days at Port Praya [Praia], Cape Verde Island to water. We also laid by a whole night for daylight to enter the Port.
I have had a sick house all the summer. Both Mrs Brown³ and myself have been very ill but thank God are very much better. The children at 88 too have been all of them unwell but are mending. They are out of town for a change of air with Mrs GB⁴.
With kind remembrance from all here.
Believe me, your sincere friend
Charles Brown
Since writing my letter I have received a Sydney paper from you and I am glad to find that you have arrived at your destination. No doubt you will find good mooring ground arranged your old friends.

1. Commander Brown (1789-1869), as Master of HMS Warspite, was the first to circumnavigate the globe in a British ship of the line. When news reached London that the Warspite had arrived safely in Portsmouth on July 28th 1827, the High Admiral, later William IV, coached down from London to give his congratulations.
2. Captain Joseph Nourse CB (1779-1824) became commander-in-chief of the Cape of Good Hope Station in 1822, from where he was engaged with combating the slave trade. He died of malaria in Mauritius in 1824.
3. Commander Brown's wife, née Elizabeth Bolt (1793-1893).
4. His son, Dr. (later Sir) Charles Gage-Brown (1826-1908), who lived and practised at 88 Sloane Street with his wife, Mary Anne Gage-Brown (née Rice) and their young children.