19 August 1775.
[Extract]
An English Captain whose ship is presently calling at this port [Naples] read in the public papers that the New Englanders had been declared rebels and traitors to the mother country by act of Parliament. He decided to arm his ship for war here, then sail for the straits of Gibraltar in order to meet the ships from Boston which will bring in the Fall the salted produce of their fishing in America.
1. AMAE, Correspondance Politique, Angleterre, vol. 511, LC Photocopy. Gabriel de Sartine was French Naval Minister, and Artier the French Consul in Naples.
