[Off Amboy, New Jersey] Jany. 24th 1776
Sir
On Monday last [January 22] I received Intelligence that a Transport laden with Stores for the Ministerial Army at Boston was hovering off Sandy Hook in distress & waiting for Assistance from the Men of War at N York I thought it a Matter of so much Importance that I immediately set out for Amboy, and there Seized a pilot Boat and with forty Men was Just pushing out about two yesterday Morning when I was Joined by three other Boat5 from Elizabeth Town with about forty Men Each, many of them Gent from Elizabeth Town who Voluntarily Came on this Service under the Command of Col [Elias] Dayton & Col [Edward] Thomas, we found her about Six leagues S.E. of Sandy Hook we Boarded & took her without opposition she proves to be the Blue Mountain Valley Commanded by Capt. James Hamilton Dempster 2 laden with Coal Porter & Sour-Crout &c (I wish it been with Arms & Ammunition as I expected) we are Now off Amboy, and Intend to push in this Evening into the Sound between Staten Island & the Main I write Now in the Hurry & Noise incident to these Occasions, I will write the particulars as soon as possible and Am your [&c.]
Stirling.
she is a Ship of about 100 feet from Stem to Stem above, Capable of making a Ship of War of 20 Six pounders & 10 three pounders. I shall impatiently expect the orders of Congress. ー
1. Papers CC (Letters from General Officers), 162, II, 384-85.
2. Extract of a letter from Captain John Hamilton Dempster.
The moment I came off New York, I sent my chief mate on shore by a pilot boat, in order to get on board the ships of war lying there, to demand assistance in carrying the ship into New York, where we might refit, in order to proceed to Boston, our intended port. But unluckily for me,... my mate was taken prisoner, and was obliged by threats to discover what the ship was, where bound, and of no force. Upon this intelligence, they fitted out four armed vessels, with about 60 men each, in all upwards of 200 men, an overmatch (as you may easily believe) for a ship with four small guns, and sixteen hands in all, after being 13 weeks at sea, and hardly able to keep the ship from sinking. When the vessels made their appearance, I took them for vessels from the men of war, the officer who commanded the party being drest in the uniform of a Lieutenant of the Navy, and I did not then know my mate was taken prisoner. They boarded the ship in every part, and carried her about ten or twelve miles up a river where two of the King's ships lay, to a place called Elizabeth-Town, making a prize of the ship and cargo and myself a prisoner upon parole. Almon, ed., Remembrancer [1776], III, Part II, 80-81.
