[Cadiz, Spain] 6th. Aprill 1778
Gentlemen
I wrote you by two prizes Sent to your Address.1 a third one Likewise Just as the prize-master Got on Board a heavy Gale of Wind Came on that it was impossible to send the Boat on Board that the prize Went Without a Copy of Commission or Letters2—the prize master being A Nantuckett Man I imagine he will put in theare. I must beg that you will make enquiry And if she is Got safe in, that Capt Squires the prize master Give You a full Account of every proceeding And if she is sold Depositt the proceedes into your hands. if not Sold you will Give such Orders as you see fitt, the Cargoe being Oranges that Dispatch is requisite, After maning those prizes we being Weak was Oblidged to put in heare3–on the way fell in with A schooner fitted Out of Gibralter to Cruze took and Burnt her4 in a few days after fell in with a Lettermark Ship of 16 Carriage Guns And After Some little resistance we took her. the Vessell & Cargoe being Valuable we did not chuse to risque it for the Continent and Orderd her for A Spanish port where if she Can not be disposed of Will proceed to you5 that in Closed you have A List of the Crew And the manner of shares how to be Disposed of. these two Vessells being in Commission and Armd. Like wise the Snow Mounting 8 Carriage Guns, my Commission being Continentall a Public Vessell I Command As it is to be expected their will be some encouragment Given by the honourable Congress to the Crew I am [&c.]
GC
LB, UkLPR, H.C.A. 32/441/7, pt. 1. Addressed at top of letter: “Messrs. Jackson treacy & treacy/Merchts. in Newberry port/State of/Massachusetts-Bay.”
1. There is a detailed list of what vessels Conyngham sent to the care of Jackson, Tracy & Tracy, and the dates he sent them, in his letter to the firm of 2 July. UkLPR, H.C.A. 32/441/7, pt. 1.
2. As seen at ibid., Conyngham was referring to the prize brig Peace & Harmony.
3. Other letters of this time establish that Conyngham was writing from Cadiz, Spain.
4. The schooner was the tender of H.M. frigate Enterprize, which the Continental Navy cutter Revenge captured and burned on 22 Mar. 1778. Letters and Papers of Gustavus Conyngham, insert opposite p. 152.
5. British letter of marque ship Hope, Abraham Jones, master, 250 tons, carrying twelve 4-pounders, built in Bristol in 1766, owned by Alexander Champion, and on a voyage from Bristol to Venice with fruit and raw silk. Revenge captured it on 24 Mar. Lloyd’s Register of Ships, 1777–78; Letters and Papers of Gustavus Conyngham, insert opposite p. 152. According to a letter written by Capt. Abraham Jones on 29 Mar. from Gibraltar, two crewmen were wounded at the engagement’s start, whereupon the rest fled from their posts, otherwise, Jones opined, Hope would not have been taken. He added that thirteen of his men “entered on board” Revenge. The Public Advertiser (London), 24 Apr. 1778. Hope was recaptured by H.M. frigate Enterprize the morning after its capture by Revenge.
