[Extract]

I cannot let this opportunity slip without giving you a piece of intelligence, which I am sure will please you. Our Admiral² and his crew have behaved like heroes; they have lightened Capt. Loftres of six tons of the needful; they surprised a superior crew, and took it out of the vessel lying at anchor within a mile of the castle of [St.] Augustine; ten soldiers were on *board, but luckily they had no arms with them; in short, Providence favored us in all points of winds, seas, tides, &c.