Know all Men by these Presents That I Nicholas Brown of Providence in the County of Providence and Colony of Rhode Island &c. Merchant am held and firmly bound unto Joseph Clarke Esqr. General Treasurer of the said Colony in the Sum of Fourteen Hundred Pounds Lawful Money to be paid to the said Joseph Clarke in his said Capacity or to his Successors in said Office for the Use of the said Colony: To which Payment well and truly to be made I bind myself, my Heirs Executors and Administrators firmly by these Presents Sealed with my Seal. Dated the Twelfth Day of April in the Year of Our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Seventy Six.
Whereas the said Nicholas Brown hath imported into the said Colony a Quantity of Powder and Warlike Stores amounting to Fourteen Hundred and Sixty eight Pounds 12/ and in Consequence of a Resolution of the Continental Congress of the Fifteenth of July last for the Encouragement of 'the Importation of Powder and other Military Stores hath equipped the Sloop Unity with a Cargo for Hispaniola amounting to Seven Hundred & Twenty one Pounds 14s/. 2 and whereas pursuant to said Resolution and of an Act of the General Assembly of the said Colony the said Charles Church hath received Permission from the Honourable Nicholas Cooke Esquire Governor of said Colony to proceed to the Island of Hispaniola in the said Sloop with the said Cargo. Now the Condition of this Obligation is such That if the said Charles Church shall in all Things during the said Voyage conform himself to the Rules of the Continental Congress and shall lay out the Sum of One Hundred & Fifty Nine Pounds of his said Cargo in Powder Military & Na val Stores &c. as also the Amount of the Sperma Coeti Candles on board said Sloop amounting to £262.I0/ in the above mentioned Articles and in Case he shall not be able to invest the whole Proceeds of the Sperma Coeti Candles in the Articles abovementioned that then he shall be permitted to lay out the remainder of the Sperma Coeti Candles in Paper Ozenbriggs Ticklenbourg German Steel Flints Lead Linneus or Woolen Cloths Jesuits Bark or Rhubarb and shall import the same into this or any other of tj:le United Colonies the Danger of the Sea & of the Enemy only excepted that then he shall be permitted to lay out & bring back the remainder of his Cargo in such Articles as he shall think proper and shall also within three Days after his Arrival in this Colony lodge in the Secretarys Office a true Account or Manifest of his Cargo the Danger of the Sea & Seizure by an Enemy being always excepted then this Obligation shall be void or else in full Force.
Nich Browns Sealed & Delivered in the Presence of William Mumford Esek Brown
1. Maritime Papers, Bonds, Masters of Vessels, R.l. Arch.
2. "In the sloop Unity Charles Church Master for Hispaniola 164 bbls Flour, 2½ Tons Oil, 15 bbls Pork in Keggs, 19 Keggs Hogs Fatt, 13 Kegs Meat, 4 bbls Hams, 2 M Staves and 60 Boxes Sperma Coeti Candles owned by Nicholas Brown," Account of Permissions Granted by his Honor the Governor, R.l. Arch. See Appendix A.
3. A second bond was signed the same day by Nicholas Brown for the sloop Polly, Remembrance Simmons, master, to sail for St. Croix, with instructions similar to those given for the Unity, and based upon the same quantity of powder and arms imported in the Unity, R.I. Arch. The cargo shipped outward on board the Polly consisted of "22 m.hoops, 124 Shaken Hogsheads, 25 c Staves, I½ Tons Oyl, 12 Keggs Hogs Fatt, 6 Keggs Meat, 4 Hhds Tobacco and 60 Boxes Sperma Coeti Candles. Owned by Nicholas Brown," Account of Permissions granted by his Honor the Governor, R.l. Arch.
