Displaying 21 - 40 of 55
Sir, The Board of War having purchas'd the ship Paris,2 & her Cargo of which Ship you are Master; Your orders are to proceed direct for St Peters in the Island of Guadaloupe where you are to dispose of both Ship & Cargo for the most you can obtain, and invest the proceeds in the several Articles mention'd in the annex'd Schedule, or a proportion of each, giving the preference...
Date: 26 December 1776
Volume: Volume 7
Sir I have Agreable to the order of the Board Bought the Brigt Nancy, & am now fixing her with all Expedition for the Sea. she is now on the ways graveing. tho I have met with great difficulty in geting either pitch or Tar for that purpose as you have sent me none. I was however lucky enough to borrow for that purpose on promise to replace it by the first Oppy The Sloop is almost ready to...
Date: 15 February 1777
Volume: Volume 7
. . . As to news we have none. A few pri_zes, some of them valuable, have been sent in. Your Navy here still remains in port. When any of them go to Sea I can't say. The conduct of this part of your operations will be a subject of curious enquiry. I hear we are going to have another frigate and a 74-gun ship built here. Will the conduct of this matter be put into hands of persons who scarcely...
Date: 22 February 1777
Volume: Volume 7
A schooner Arrived here Yesterday from Alexandria & brings such Accounts of the situation of the Entrance between the Capes, & of the Bay, that I think it next to Impossible for a vessel to get into Virginia or Maryland. to be sure the Chance is not I to 10. there are 7 sail of Men of War & 9Tenders who ride in different parts of the Bay. & shift their stations. they had taken...
Date: 1 March 1777
Volume: Volume 8
This goes p Capt Amos Rider of the Schooner Brittania Chartered on your Acct for the Southern States. This Schooner I should have sent directly to Messrs Purveyance at Baltimore had I not been prevented by the Intelligence recd here by A Schooner from thence in a short passage. that Intelligence I gave you by Doct Roberts. it is Since Confirmed by a Vessel from Philadelphia. I am fully Convinced...
Date: 3 March 1777
Volume: Volume 8
You Are hereby Impowered and Desired to Go on Board the shooner Hannah As Master, Embrace the first Good Oppertunity, Come to sail And proceed with All possible Dispatch to North Carolina, and their Dispose of your Cargo And Lay Out the proceeds In the Most Advantageous Manner in flour, wheat, [illegible] Beans Indian Corn, And Rice, Giving preference to these Articles In the Order they stand,...
Date: 7 March 1777
Volume: Volume 8
I wrote you Yesterday by Major Wadsworth, which I hope will reach you this day. Since which the Brigt. Independence2 has Arrived here . . .
Date: 21 March 1777
Volume: Volume 8
. . . no one thing gives me more uneasiness than the conduct of your Fleet. The Hancock, Boston, Alfred and Cabot are all yet in port. It is said the Hancock is ready to sail and was to have gone yesterday, but remains here yet. I fear the consequences of their going out single. But McNeil and Manly it is said like the Jews and Samaritans will have no connections or intercourse; they will not...
Date: 23 March 1777
Volume: Volume 8
I have the pleasure to Inform you that Capt [Isaac] Bartlett in Schooner Plymouth Arrived here yesterday, with 2 or 300 Arms, A little duck, A few flints, & some few Other Articles, as much as his own Cargo would purchase after A poor sale he left Hallet 2 at Martinico 25 days ago to sail in five days after him, heard of Coffin, & McClannin at St Petre. the Schooner the last...
Date: 9 April 1777
Volume: Volume 8
We had last Sunday a prize brought into Plymouth. She was bound to Antigua with a load of beef and. butter, and last evening I heard of the arrival of another at Cape Ann, with 2000 bbs. beef and pork.2 I suppose she was bound to York. The amazing damage we should have done them, as well as the advantages derived to ourselves, make me execrate the policy of stopping our privateers. I...
Date: 23 April 1777
Volume: Volume 8
Since I wrote you by the post on last Thursday, nothing very material has taken place here. Two Frigates have for some time been infecting our coasts ー a species of insult that has ever gauled me, and more especially since we had Ships sufficient either to take or drive them off, lying in our harbours for months sufficient to build and equip a large fleet. The ships now on the coast have taken...
Date: 27 April 1777
Volume: Volume 8
. . . Our Fleet is still in the harbour. We have had easterly winds and thick weather almost constantly for a fortnight past. They were to sail this day, if possible, but there is no alteration in the weather. Three Cruisers chased a Vessel between the Capes yesterday. The intelligence from Halifax is that eight sail of their Ships and some small Vessels are between that place and this, that the...
Date: 8 May 1777
Volume: Volume 8
Wallace at Newport makes great Havock among the Trade and sends whole Fleets to Boston. our Machias Admiral has been and Burnt the Fort on St. John's River, took away all the Cannon, six or seven, and has taken a Vessel Bound to Boston with thirty head Cattle, seventy Sheep, some Swine, 2000 lbs. Butter and Cheese, seventy Dollars, six watches, some English Goods.
Date: 28 September 1775
Volume: Volume 2
A strong S.W. wind put into Marblehead last week a New Providence man,2 with a large number of turtle, etc. etc. They boarded, took and carryed him to Salem, and prevented the scoundrels from en joying and feasting on callipee, callipack, and a desert of pine apples, etc. A few fisher men also have taken a brigantine3 from Quebec with cattle, sheep, oatmeal, etc., a present...
Date: 1 October 1775
Volume: Volume 2
The People at Marblehead have taken a Vessel from New Providence with Turtle and other delicacies the produce of that Island and designed for the delicate palates of the Rebels in Boston, but by a S: West Wind forced into Marblehead. The People of Cape Ann have taken a Brigantine from Quebec for Boston with Cattle, Sheep, Oatmeal, and some Forage for the Rebel army and Carried her into that place...
Date: 2 October 1775
Volume: Volume 2
The committee of Congress arrived here last Sunday [October 15]. Colonel [Benjamin] Harrison went through the town without my seeing him. Doctor [Benjamin] Franklin and Mr. [Thomas] Lynch stop'd at Davis. I waited on them, and they came over and drank coffee with us. The next day I dined with them all at Head quarters, and yesterday they and the general officers, and the gentlemen of character...
Date: 20 October 1775
Volume: Volume 2
We have just heard that the pirates on the Eastern shore have destroyed two-thirds of Falmouth burnt down, and have orders to destroy every sea port from Boston to Pemmaquid. This is savage and barbarous in the highest stage. What can we wait for now? What more can we want to justifie any step to take, kill and destroy, to refuse them any refreshments, to apprehend our enemies, to confiscate...
Date: 22 October 1775
Volume: Volume 2
I forgot to tell you that the powder arrived in our vessel at the eastward2 has got from ninety tons by various gradations to seven and one half, which I think I gave you as the true account, being what I thought I could rely on; and from thence to fifteen hundred and from thence to six hundred, which I believe is the true one, tho' I can't say that it won't descend to three lbs.
Date: 28 October 1775
Volume: Volume 2
The Non Exportation is sacredly Observed & I believe [has] never been violated in a single Instance & such is the Spirit here, that it cannot be violated with any degree of Safety. . . .
Mcpherson is yet here but, I dare not ask questions. Nothing Transpires & whether any plan is adopted or not cant Inform you. . . . The Pirates Continue to rove about. & Threaten our Seaports....
Date: 5 November 1775
Volume: Volume 2
Dear Sir,ー The Bearer of this I suppose will be Mr. [Paul] Revere, who Carries you from the Council some very Important dispatches, taken by a Fish Boat in a Schooner made Prize off and Carried into Beverly.2 Among other things there is to be found in one Letter the Success and Effects of your Loyal and Dutiful Petition. Administration from it presumed there must be a...
Date: 12 November 1775
Volume: Volume 2