[York, Pa.] May 25th 1778
Sir
We are now to acknowledge the receipt of yours of the 27th of April last. The Receipt of yours of the 2d March we have already acknowledged and fully answered, and refer you to that answer—1
We are exceedingly glad to hear of the arrival of the Raleighs Prize loaded with salt at Beaufort.2 The Continent as we informed you in our last are entitled to One half only of Such Prizes as may be Captured by Continental Vessels of War. We would have you purchase the half of the salt belonging to the Captors at the lowest rate you can and remove to and store the same together with the Continental half at Newbern until farther Orders as this salt may be much wanted in the fall to pickle meat for the use of the Army. We have delivered your Oath of Allegiance and Oath of Office to the Secretary and you will take care not to sell anything belonging to the Continent that may come in your hands without first consulting us, unless the same should be of a perishable nature.3 We are sir [&c.]
LB, DNA, PCC, Marine Committee Letter Book, fols. 151–52(M332, roll 6). Addressed above opening: “Richard Ellis Esquire.”
1. See the Continental Marine Committee to Ellis, 22 Apr., above.
2. Probably the brig Sally captured by Continental frigate Raleigh, Capt. Thomas Thompson, commander, and Continental ship Alfred, Capt. Elisha Hinman, commander, on 28 September 1777. NDAR 10: 875, 946–47. The North-Carolina Gazette reported on 15 May that this prize had been captured while anchored at Topsail Inlet by a loyalist privateer captained by Bridger Goodrich. Unable to carry off the vessel, Goodrich set it on fire. The 1,200 bushels of salt on board, which had “just been condemned by the court of admiralty and sold,” were saved; the prize, however, was “ruined.”
3. Ellis’s oath of allegiance is in DNA, PCC, item 195, p.183 (M247, roll 201).
