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Yarmouth Feby 28. 1854

Honorable Hugh Bell
Halifax

Dear Sir,

I have your favor of the [7th? 17th?] respecting the articles intended for Sable Island and wish of the donor to have them sent back to New York. I have had a very clever practicable engineer to look at them, he says that there will be no difficulty in repairing them here. My boiler maker can take out the plates and replace new. there can be sufficient taken from the remains of one of the surf boats to repair the others. and the expense of repairing them would not be as much as the freight to and from New York. They can either be repaired here or at Halifax. It would be useless to attempt to repair the boat broken up. she was broken in four or five pieces Capt Nickerson informed me that the first sea that struck her broke her up. My own