[Philadelphia, September 10]
. . . I was spoken to by Mr. [Samuel] Mifflin to go to France to purchase powder and arms . . . on the 10th of September, 1775, sailed in the brig Chance, Captain John Craig, for L'Orient2 . . .
A schooner under the command of Capt. Ash sailed in company with us for Portugal. He was to dispose of his cargo there, and pay the net proceeds to me in France. We were armed so as to keep off any boat or small vessel, and my orders were to speak no vessel, if we could avoid it.
1. Biddle, ed., Charles Biddle Autobiography, 75, 76.
2. Captain Craig cleared ostensibly for Jamaica, according to the Custom House entry as printed in the Pennsylvania Journal, September 13, 1775.
