[Extract]
To the Honorable the Provincial Congress, held for the Province of New York:
The Petition of William Gandell, of the City of New-York, Mariner, humbly showeth:
That your Petitioner is well affected to the cause of his country, and is out of employ on account of the distressed times; and seeing no probable way of getting into business again to maintain his wife and children until matters are accomodated; and your Petitioner understanding that there is a vacancy for a Lieutenant in one or more of the Artillery Companies raised in this City, as also of Masters and Lieutenants in the vessels on the Lakes, and likewise in those that are building up the North-River, he offers himself as a proper person to fill up either of the said vacancies.
Your Petitioner therefore, humbly prays that this honourable House will take his case into their most serious consideration, and grant him a commission in either of the above-mentioned vacancies as they in their wisdom shall think most proper. And your Petitioner, as in duty bound, shall ever pray, &c.
New York, March 14, 1776.
