April 1776 Moor'd in Graves End Bay.
Sunday 7th A M the Savage Sloop Weigh'd & Run up to the Watering Place at Straten Island, & Sent our Boats Watering under cover of her Guns, at 10 a Body of Rebels suddenly came down [and] Fired upon the People empd filling water, which obliged them to desist, their approach was so Sudden, that three of our People, could not make their Escape; or was there possibility of getting off 27 Water Casks, which were ashore. Joseph Mitchell Seaman of the Phoenix & a Man belonging to the Savage were wounded in coming off, our Longboat being at a Grapnel, near the Shore; we were obliged to cut, which occasion'd the Loss of a Grapnel and Rope. Anchor'd here the Dutchess of Gordon. 2
1. PRO, Admiralty 51/693.
2. The Dutchess of Gordon was the floating home of Governor William Tryon of New York. General William Heath records: "7th. ー A barge from one of the ships going near Staten Island, was fired upon by the Americans: two men were killed, the barge and 8 men taken. The British cannonaded the shore for some time, and one American was wounded." Abbatt, ed., Heath Memoirs, 37.
