On the 14th inst. Col. [Benedict] Arnold left Ticonderoga with 50 men, in a small schooner (seized at Skenesbury)² and proceeded for St. John's. The 17th, at six o'clock P.M. being within 30 miles of St. John's, the weather calm, they manned 2 small batteaus with 35 men, and at six o'clock next morning arrived there and surprized a serjeant and his party of 12 men, and took the King's sloop of about 70 tons,³ two brass six pounders and 7 men, without any loss on either side. The Captain was hourly expected from Montreal, with a large detachment of men, some guns and carriages for the sloop; as was a Captain with 40 men from Chamblee, which is twelve miles distant from St. John's; so that providence seems to have smiled on us in arriving at so fortunate an hour; for, had we been six hours later, in all probability we should have miscarried in our design. ー The wind proving favourable in two hours after our arrival, we got on board all the stores, provisions, &c. and weighed anchor for this place, with the sloop and five large batteaus, which we seized, having destroyed five others, and arrived here at ten this morning, not leaving one craft of any kind behind that that enemy can cross the lake in, if they have any such intention.