York Town [Pa.] 29th. April 1778
[Extract] Sir/
. . . The marine board Seem'd Sensible of Capt. Harding's Merit & on your Excellencies recommendation would have made his appointment accordingly had it been feasible but their had been a predetermination that Capt. Hinman Should take the Command of that Frigate if he arrives in Season;1 Indeed their are a number of Capts in the Continental Navy, which they think may not be passid over, as several of them have now no Vessels & Consequently are out of Employ tho' on Wages. We wish to be favour'd with an Acct of Mr. Bushnell Expences; as we are fully of Opinion, that his genious ought to be encouraged & Rewarded at a Continental Expence, & shall take the Earliest Opportunity to urge it—2 . . . It is said that Feby. packet, from England, is arriv'd at Philadelphia, but no Intelligence Transpires—3 We are with much Esteem, [&c.]
Samel. Huntington Oliver Wolcott
Copy, Ct, Joseph Trumbull Papers, pp. 168a-b. Addressed below close: “Govr. Trumbull." Notation: “A true Copy."
1. Trumbull had recommended the appointment of Seth Harding, a captain in the Connecticut Navy, to command the Continental frigate being built at Norwich, Conn. See Gov. Jonathan Trumbull of Connecticut to Continental Marine Committee, 2 Apr., above. The Continental Marine Committee's reply on 20 Apr., elaborated on their reasons for wishing to appoint Capt. Elisha Hinman, Continental Navy, to command that ship. See Continental Marine Committee to Gov. Jonathan Trumbull of Connecticut, 20 Apr., above.
2. On David Bushnell and his floating devices, see NDAR 6: 1499–1511.
3. H.M. Post Office packet boat Mercury arrived in Delaware River on 8 Apr, after a voyage of fifty-two days from Falmouth, England. Edward H. Tatum, Jr., ed., The American Journal of Ambrose Serle, Secretary to Lord Howe, 1776-1778 (San Marino, CA., The Huntington Library, 1940), p. 286; Pennsylvania Ledger: or the Philadelphia Market-Day Advertiser, 11 Apr. 1778.
