[Mill Prison, Plymouth, August, 1778]
15th. Saturday this Day some Naval officers from Adml. Keppels fleet Came here to see who would Enter into (Brot. Over) His Majesties Navy, & 33 Gave in their Names, who Chiefly Old Countrymen,1 the Officers Brot. One American with them2 for a Hoverer, to whome the officers gave a Guinea in order for him to treat his Countrymen with, as a bait—3
D, MeHi, Jonathan Haskins Journal.
1. By “Old Countrymen,” Haskins means men originally from Great Britain.
2. In his account, Charles Herbert writes that this man was “taken with Captain Martingale in the first of the disturbance.” Herbert, Relic of the Revolution, p. 155. Presumably, Herbert meant that the man had served with the brig Washington, commanded by Capt. Sion Martindale, which was captured by the British in 1775. See Journal of H.M.S. Fowey, 4–5 Dec. 1775, in NDAR 2: 1288; Muster Roll of H.M.S. Fowey, [5] Dec. 1778, in NDAR 2: 1288–91.
3. Haskins notes that the following day, 16 Aug., another officer from the fleet came “fishing after men” but none enrolled. Jonathan Haskins Journal.
