[Extract]

The Congress have also appointed a Secret Committee for Supplying the Continent with certain Necessary Articles; of this I am one, and wish I could see you, or some other of my Connecticut Mercantile Friends, here, as it would be in my power, to help them, & in theirs to serve their Country, this [is] all I can give, on this head, & if you will come down, the Sooner, the better. A Naval Force, is a Favorite object of mine, & I have a prospect now, of carrying that point, having succeeded in getting Our Connecticut, & the Rhode Island Vessels into Continental pay; which motion I was seconded in beyond any expectations, and was further directed by Congress to lay before them an Estimate of the Cruisers on this coast. This I shall lay before them this Day, and am of your Opinion, that N. London harbor is well situated for the rendezvous of an American Navy;&, my Friend, is it not worth while, for N. London to labor, to obtain the advantages of such a Collection of Navigation spending their Money there? I think it prudent & adviseable, therefore, for you or some other to come instantly down here, by which you may undoubtedly procure an advantageous employment for your Navigation.

P.S. Where is the Maccaroni, & how have you succeeded in procuring a most Necessary Article?² . . . Will a Battery on Winthrop's Neck, another on Mamecock, & a few Guns on the heights on the [eastern] Shore, secure that Harbor? How far up the Norwich River is their Sufficient Depth of Water for a Twenty Gun Ship?