1. No date is given; the editors arrived at this date because later in the letter Conyngham wrote that he had arrived at Tenerife “yesterday,” and know, from others of his letters, that Conyngham left Cadiz on a 42 day cruise on 20 May.

2. Conyngham in the Continental Navy cutter Revenge captured the brig Betsey, John Murphy, master, on 12 Mar.; it was recaptured by the British armed ordnance ship Earl of Bathurst, Joseph Clapp, master, off the coast of America. Lloyd’s Evening Post, 4–6 May 1778; UkLPR, H.C.A. 26/61, fol. 41; Letters and Papers of Gustavus Conyngham, opposite p. 152.

3. Snow Fanny, William St. Barbe, master, was captured on 13 Mar. Its prize master took it to Martinique where David H. Conyngham, Gustavus Conyngham’s first cousin and agent, sold the vessel. Letters and Papers of Gustavus Conyngham, opposite p. 152.

4. Brig Carbonnere (Carboneer), Fabian Street, master, was captured on 18 or 19 Apr. In this letter, Conyngham appears to have crossed through Hornsby, the name of the prize master. However, in a list of prizes that Conyngham prepared in 1779, he notes that Carbonnere was “carried by Prize master Hornsby to Halifax.” Ibid. See also, Journal of H.M. frigate Ambuscade, 11 June.

5. Countess of Morton—for so it was called by all the British sources—J. Orrick, master, a 110-ton brig built in 1767 and owned by the captain, was captured on 19 Apr. while on a voyage from Barcelona to Cowes, England, with a cargo of wine and fruit. The prize master sailed the ship to Martinique. Lloyd’s Register of Ships, 1777–1778; Public Advertiser (London), 11 May; Letters and Papers of Gustavus Conyngham, pp. 149–50 and opposite p. 152.

6. Swedish brig Henrica Sophia, Peter Heldt, master. As seen later in this letter, Conyngham maintained that it was carrying British goods and therefore was subject to capture, a position which none of the governments involved, including that of the United States, upheld. It was retaken off Cape Cod. Arthur Lee to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, 15 Nov. 1778, in Letters and Papers of Gustavus Conyngham, pp. 149–50 and opposite p. 152.

7. Conyngham’s letter of 6 Apr. to Jackson, Tracy & Tracy is in NDAR 12: 536.

8. Peace & Harmony, George Kennedy, master, was captured on 11 Mar. It did reach Boston and was libeled on 25 May in the Massachusetts Maritime Court of the Middle District for trial 10 June. See Libels Filed in the Massachusetts Maritime Court of the Middle District, 25 May, NDAR 12: 439–40.

9. In the “Narrative of the Proceedings of Captain Gustavus Conyngham, U.S.N.” is the following: “here [at Tenerife] we learned that one of our prizes—Cargo Wine, fruit & Oyle, was at Island of Palma, the prize master was disposing of the Cargoe in League With the British Consul, We proceeded to s^d Island & found he had disposed of the Cargoe, a part delivered, took the Necessary steps, Got possession of the vessell & that part of Cargo on board, and thiss obliged to be satisfy^d—put a crew on board, ordered her to Martinique.” “Narrative of Captain Gustavus Conyngham, U.S.N., While in Command of the ‘Surprise’ and ‘Revenge,’ 1777–1779,” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 22 (1898): 483–84. From a letter from Graciano Sieulanne to Benjamin Franklin of 30 July 1778 (below), it appears that he replaced Fearson as prize master of Countess of Morton. Like Conyngham, Sieulanne called the brigantine Countess of Mouton.