I do hereby certify, that at the desire of his Excellency Lord William Campbell, I detained the bearer hereof, Mr. [Matthew] Floyd, two nights, on board his Majesty's ship Cherokee, under my command; as the circumstance of his coming on board with the messenger of the Council of Safety, made it highly suspicious, that he did not come with any message from his Majesty's faithful and loyal subjects, in the back part of this Province.
Jno Fergusson
Dated on board his Majesty's armed ship Cherokee, in Rebellion Road, South Carolina, 7th Dec. 1775.
1. Drayton, American Revolution, II, 152, 153.