On the 21st September 1675, a letter is written to the agent at Deal, wherein Whitley puts his finger on the cause of the neglects at that port. "I am daily tormented," says he, "with the complaints of the merchants, and my ears are filled with the noise of seamen's wives and others concerning the neglect of their letters, who are now fully resolved to redress themselves to His Majesty.... It will be proved that your boats very seldom go on board with letters, to force the seamen to come ashore to drink at your house.... They go on board other ships with brandy and other liquors." The boats sailing in the packet service to and from Holland were Galiot-Hoys, of which three were regularly engaged--two of 60 tons and one of 40 tons, and in each six men were employed. The tonnage of these boats was not greater than that of a decently-sized Stonehaven fishing boat; yet they were supposed to provide adequate accommodation for passengers. In 1675, the passenger fare from Harwich to Holland was 12s. In February 1674, a proposal was on foot for conveying letters from Flanders and Holland to Spain and Portugal by way of England, but it does not appear that the plan was given effect to. The idea was to set up a packet service for this purpose from Plymouth to some port in Spain, the boats to be employed being of 40, 50, or 60 tons, "with good conveniency of cabins, and able to encounter storms," and furnished with crews of not under seven or eight good men. In one of his letters on this subject Whitley writes, that "the gentleman that demands £50 per mensem for a vessel of 60 tons is much out of the way"; and he adds, "I have two of that burthen to Holland at a less rate." A service of this kind from Plymouth is stated to have been kept up in Cromwell's time; but possibly the reference is to the packets set up by Charles I. when he was in the West of England and at war with the Parliamentary party. The port of despatch then was Weymouth. Whitley was very sympathetic over the hardships to which the seamen were exposed in his service. To the agent at Dover he writes, on the occasion of a disaster:--"I am very much afflicted for the loss of Mr. Lambert, who had the character of an honest, able man. It was a great mercy that the rest were preserved. I pray God send us good accounts of our other boats, with better weather. We must resign ourselves and all our concernments to the will of God, and depend on His providence." On another occasion, he expresses himself thus:--"I pray God keep our men and boats in safety these terrible storms; I assure you my heart aches often for them." About the same period, Whitley deplores the loss of the captain of one of the Dublin packet boats, who was washed overboard.