Gentlemen, During the absence of Captn [Jeremiah] Obrien, the Committee of this place commissioned Captn Stephen Smith to take Charge of the Private-teer, & bring in here the Brigg Loyal Briton owned by Messrs Archibald Wilson, James Anderson, John Greenlaw, David Black and John Semple who had sent her to St John's River in Nova Scotia to load with Cattle &c. for the Army at Boston; & upon Captn Smiths Arrival there, he found the said Brigg loaded & weighing Anchor. He thereupon took Immediate possession of her, without opposition and after taking the provision found in the Fort, burning the Fort, and taking a Copora1 & two Privates, with two women & five Children he proceeded with his Prize & Prisoners, (Mr John Semple of Boston and David Ross the mate excepted, who found means to Escape), directly to this Place. An exact Inventory of the Goods taken in the Brigg and in the Fort we send enclosed. The Cattle, sheep, Hogs, smoked Salmon & Butter; we have divided among the people, who took them, except one third part reserved in the Hands of the Committee for publick use: The other things are all Stored, & await the orders of the General Court. The two private Soldiers, with their wives & Children, at their earnest request, we have sent back to St Johns, taking it for granted that they would be not only useless, but expensive lumber in the western parts of this Colony: William Miller the Pilot of the Brigg and three seamen are permitted to ship on board the Privateteer, and Captn Fredireck Sterling only, the Master of the Brigg, and the Corporal above-mentioned are sent to Court. Captn Sterling has much to say for himself, but his conduct is not altogether unexceptionable: All we can. say is, that he is a North-Briton. We have given him part of his private venture, & reserve the rest 'till the pleasure of the General Court is known.
John Anderson Esqr was also on board the Brigg, as a passenger who was dismissed & suffered to return to his own Home, not because he appeared to be a cordial friend to the Cause, in which we have embarked our all, but because he belonged to another Province. Nothing material has since happened, for we can do but little. We now beg leave to return your honors our Humble & hearty thanks for the many favors already confered upon us, of which we shall ever retain the most grateful remembrance. It would give us the highest satisfaction to find ourselves able, thro' the Aid you have graciously given us, both in the Land & sea Service, to protect & support ourselves, without giving your Honors any further trouble: But such are our Necessitous circumstances, thro' the almost total failure of our commerce, upon which we have hitherto subsisted & by which we have rose to such magnitude, as to be in some measure worthy of your Honors attention, the Admtration of this Vast Continent and the dread of Halifax, and the brittish Navy, that we have no other alternative, but Either to "sink" ー or to make a most humble and dutiful application to our avowed, beloved, & beneficent Guardians. We are therefore under the disagreeable necessity of adding: That we have drawn a bill upon your Honors in favor of Mr Wm Shey of Philadelphia for a Cargo of provisions, a Copy of which, together with the Letter of advice given with it; we send enclosed. We could not but View the arrival of this cargo of provision as a very remarkable interposition of Divine Providence, in our behalf, & thought our. selves indispensably bound to treat the benevolent Instrument by which it came, with honor, But purchase we could not, Lumber would not answer, and all the Cash we could collect in the whole place was but barely sufficient to pay the freight. To suffer this provision to depart from us, & go elsewhere, would have been the heighth of distraction, as we were then in want, and armed Plunderers infested all our coasts, and picked up all the provision they could find; and especially when we add, we had no prospect of either Quails or Manna. The sacred laws of self-preservation, therefore, deserved respect to Mr Shey, the tender obligations, that subsist between the Guardian & his beneficiary, & the Mutual affection of Indulgent parents & dutiful Children, all conspired to Justify; & even recommend a draught upon the General Court of the Colony. The bill is drawn, & a copy of it now lies before you. If it is duly honored, our Mills, our boards, our Shingles &c our houses and not to Mention the sloop Mechias Liberty, sloop Unity, the Margeretta, Diligent, Tatamagouch, or the Infidel reclaimed (once Loyal Briton) our all is yours, 'till the whole is repaid. This may soon be done, for we are both able & willing to pay the whole amount of said Bill in lumber, on Demand. If this bill is not Honored, we tremble at the consequence!
On this occassion we send Mr George Stillman, as our Representative, who was chosen by the Town for that purpose: And with him we send the Accounts of our expence, in burying the Dead, who fell in the day of battle, or died of the wounds they then received, in taking care of the wounded, & in supporting the prisoners & conveying them to Head Quarters, except the Doctrs Bill, & the persons who attended him, which we choose they should present themselves. The charges of those persons, who were lately at the General Court, & Mr Stephen Jones's we have sent as they brought them in to us. But all the rest we have examined, and Approved. We are heartily grieved to see our expences run so high, but we see no way to reduce them any lower without doing apparent injustice. We have other enormous expences among ourselves which we never mean to mention in the ears of Government, for the greater part of us have spent almost our whole time in public service Since the taking of the first Tender. We are but an handful & every publick exertion required the most of our strength. And were your Honors graciously to add, to your parental bounty in the land & Sea Service of this place, which we esteem a rich & signal favor, all the Prizes we have taken, we should still be sufferers. ー we ask not a farthing more than we have merited; we expect, we are willing, to suffer with our brethren, for it is honorable & Glorious to suffer in this Cause. Your Honors are well Acquainted with our infant state, with our critical situation, & with all we have done in support of the invaluable priviledges of America, & Great Britain, and we rest assured that you will not permit us to suffer beyond Measure. . . .
We also beg leave to recommend to your Honors Notice the Widow McNiel & her orphan children who are left under very poor circumstances. Mr John Berry who has a family Ebenezar Beal of Old York, an old Man & Isaac Taft & James Cole, young men, may not be, perhaps, unworthy of Notice. These were all badly wounded, and it is doubtful whether they will ever be capable of business, as they were before, or not. The last mentioned is still confined. Before we conclude, we must observe, that on the 8th Instant Eleven Deserters from the Somerset at Halifax arrived here, who informed us that the Tartar & two Sloops of war are now up the Bay of Funday, & that a Schooner of 14 Carriage Guns & 50 men, was fitting out at Halifax in order to Join two other Tenders, and proceed directly against this place. ー Eight of the said deserters are inlisted on board the Sloop Machias Liberty. Should Armed Vessels come against us we should be in danger of falling a sacrifice, for we are very Scant of Powder; as almost all that was taken in the Diligent was destroy'd, Some body poured water into it privately. We earnestly beg therefore, that your Honors would please to send us more. ー
We are Gentlemen most respectfully your most Dutiful & Humble Servants
By order of the Committee of Safety
Machias Octr 14th 1775
P.S. Mr Stillman is accompanied by Dr Willm Chaloner
