Messrs. Lagonre & Co. [Cadiz, Spain, 1 April 1778]1
Dr. Sr. Gentlemen
I wrote you last from Bilboa And was then Determined to push for America but On the Way fell in with An english fleet. And in Consequence Was Oblidged to take 3 of them And sent them for AM[erica],2 After Maning of them Being Weak Was Oblidged to push for heare And in the Way fell in with A tender took her Burnt her3 in a day or two fell in With a Lettermark Ship of 16 Carige Guns And After A little Resistance took her she has A Valuable Cargoe on Board from the Streights Bound to Bristoll—4 the Vessell I shall clean heare And perhaps be Oblidgd to waite some time for men that I would be Verry Glad to heare from you And please if in your power to send me the Amt of the Brig Black prince Cargoe,5 and the Determination of the Court of Spain About the french Brig that I took,6 in my Leaving his Coast it is Likely I shall Call at Teneriff that you may write there And I shall Call at the french Consull for it. I suppose long before you receive this Capt peele and the Boy7 will be Gone if not I beg you may first proceed as they themselves would Chuse for it in so verry Uncertaine Which Way I shall Go that I can not Give Any particular Directions to them After I heare from you And I find it Safe at the Groine8 for me I will theare proceed And Make it my place for the summer if the War Continues, Theare is heare 7 Americane Vessells one Arrived this day Nothing new from the Continent. Only that how is still Blockd. up in phd. And almost Starrvd. All Communication being Cut off. I am [&c.]
GC—
LB, UkLPR, H.C.A. 32/441/7, pt. 1.
1. No date or place is given, but in a letter to Lagoanere & Co., of 16 Apr., below, Conyngham wrote that he had written “at my Arrivall the first of this month.” As seen there, Conyngham was in Cadiz, Spain.
2. These vessels were: snow Fanny, William St. Barbe, master; brigantine Peace & Harmony, George Kennedy, master; and sloop Betsey, John Murphy, master. For more on these vessels, their cargoes, and their captures see NDAR 11: 1089n, 1091–92, 1127, 1128, 1129 and n, 1143. Fanny was sent to Martinique; Peace & Harmony and Betsey were sent to Boston, Mass.; Betsey was retaken before it arrived there.
3. This was the tender of H.M. frigate Enterprize, captured on 20 Mar.
4. British letter of marque ship Hope, Abraham Jones, captain, carrying sixteen guns and a cargo of fruit and silk, taken by Continental Navy cutter Revenge off the Straits of Gibraltar. As seen in Conyngham’s letter to Silas Deane of 3 Apr., Hope was recaptured by H.M. frigate Enterprize, Sir Thomas Rich, commander.
5. Brig Black Prince, Evan Thomas, master, captured by Revenge on 22 Aug. 1777, carried a cargo of wine, oil, and fruit, the value of which Conyngham gave as 80,000 reales. On its capture see NDAR 9: 600, 606–7, 652; the value of the cargo was give in “Account of Prizes taken in the Surprize by Capt. Gustavus Conyngham,” in Letters and Papers of Gustavus Conyngham, insert facing p. 152.
6. French brig Gracieux, Emanuel de Tournois, master, captured by Revenge on 21 Dec. 1777. Gracieux was carrying a load of woolens from England to Spain. The Court of Spain angrily protested the capture and the American Commissioners in France ordered Conyngham to drop his claim. Letters and Papers of Gustavus Conyngham, 4–5; Silas Deane to Captain Gustavus Conyngham, 21 Jan. 1778, NDAR 11: 926–28.
7. Presumably, Benjamin Peel, who served as a prize master under Conyngham’s command; the “Boy” has not been further identified.
8. The Groyne was a name formerly used for Corunna, Spain.
