My Dear Sir

I have wrote you very lately & very lengthy. if they come so fast as to be Troublesome. you will give me Notice. & I will stop my hand.¹ The Army was the principle Subject of my last. I will now in turn give you a few more of my Sentiments with regard to the Navy. The Manning & dispatch of your Ships here depend very much on the Character. of the Commanders. all we can do seems to little purpose. unless the Captains & Officers are popular. &c such as the Seamen have A Confidence in. Cap^t. Burke² may be A good Officer. but there are suspicions subsisting & a certain Unpopular Air & Manner in his Behaviour that has Occasioned those Men who Intended to go in that Brig^t.3 to leave her. & I fear in spite of every thing I can do it will be long before she goes to Sea. This Appointment seems to be a matter of Speculation.⁴ & as the Service is retarded by it gives great Occasion for the observations of the Speculators. but Nothing has Afforded a more ample subject. for those People & for the resentment of the Navy Officers than the late Appointment of Capt Landais to the Alliance.⁵ I am afraid this will be productive of much Confusion & Mischief. he is An Ingenuous & well Behaved Man. I am pleased to see him taken Notice of. but this Appointment seems to be marked with some degree of Enthusiasm⁶ you have certainly Exceeded his Expectations if not wishes. and have you done Justice to some Exceeding good officers here. who have Older Commissions than his. & with their Familys been long starving on their bare pay. Manley⁷ Olney⁸ & Water⁹ have reason to suppose them selves Neglected. especially the first. as he was made acquainted that the Marine Committee (as they wrote us) Intended that Ship for him if he was Honourably Acquitted by a Court Martial.¹⁰ Cap^t. Landais when he went from here seemed to Expect no more than some kind of Superintendency in the Construction of Ships. there are two very good Leutenants in that Ship but I am told they will both leave her. & the service. I fear he will never Man her unless with Frenchmen & I Suppose that would hardly be Agreable to Congress. she is much the finest Frigate you have had. however my Exertions shall not be wanting more especially as I find there is An Opinion that you was his chief Patron. Cap^t. Manley will hand you this he is A Blunt. Honest. & I believe Brave Officer he was first in the Service. &c merited much by his Conduct. I hope therefore he will be Continued & satisfied, more especially as he is Extreemly popular with Officers. & Seamen. & can Man a Ship with dispatch when A Man as deserving could do Nothing in that way. which is an object you must Attend to or be Content to have your Ships lay in Port. Cap^t. Barry's¹¹ Character stands high. & his Conduct is agreable. I think therefore we shall have but little difficulty in Maning his Ship¹² tho' he is A Stranger. 

Cap^t. McNeil¹³ is gone to make you a Visit his Address is Insinuateing. & his Assurance great¹⁴ he may tell you fine Storys. but be Assured he has had as fair & Impartial A Trial as A Man ever had. & as much Tenderness & delicacy both in the prosecution & Sentence as he ought to wish for. We have frequently wrote for an Establishment for Pursers. & Pilots. the Service suffers for want of it. do see it done both with regard to wages & prize money. and Expedite the Other Business we have wrote about perticularly send us Money. We Celebrated the 4^th. of July here yesterday with great parade. & festivity. We have no News here we long to hear how matters stand with the Army & where the French Fleet are. I am with regards [&c.]

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did you ever propose An Allowance of Hay & Oates for our Horses since we have been in this Service.¹⁵ our Board and Horse-keeping has from the begining Cost us more than our pay. & since last December we have been at least a dollar A day out of pocket the Service is hard enough the least that could be done is to afford us support here. if we are not Enabled to take any kind of Care of our Familys 

we are Obliged to give Carpenters. Riggers c some other Tradesmen 5 dollars. a day while we have but ab^t. 4. Ceteris paribus¹⁶ they have the Advantage of us they are at Home with their Familys we are Abroad & Absent from ours. your Resolve ab^t. the Frenchman. Pendant is thought very Extraordinary.¹⁷ it is a great Triumph to the Skippers & is Improved with some marks of Insult. & is mortifying to your own Officers. if it is A fact that our Ships are allowed to wear their pendants in the Ports of France in presence of Men of War. all the Officers lately [from] there. give us wrong Information. & certain it [is] one of your Vessels of War lately at Martineco [was] not permitted to wear her pendant to the Mortification of Cap^t. Chew.¹⁸ who was A Man of great Spirit. I hope proper respect will be paid to the Judgment of Courts Martial. & their Sentences never altered but where Errors. fraud. Injustice or partiality plainly appear. Honb^l. Sam^l. Adams Esq^r. 

A French Cutter now here fires A Morning and Evening Gun.