[New York] Friday, November 1st [1776].
Gaine, the Printer of the New York Gazette escaped from Newark this Morning, and arrived in Town. From him I derived the following information . . . that Dr. [Benjamin] Franklin sailed on Sunday last from Philadelphia for France, on the Pretence of soliciting the Interposition of the French Court & its assistance; that several Privateers of a small Size were fitting out, and that those already dispatched had taken many Prizes . . .
I also met with Col [Edmund] Fanning in Town, who informed me, that the Rebels still tame over from N. London in Connecticut to Long Island, & carried off Cattle, Provisions & Forage; that a Mr. Floyd, late one of the Congress,2 had also come over with a Party of 400 men, and done much mischief; & that the Number of Sheep alone, taken away, exceeded 17,000.
Lord Dunmore dined on board, with the Captain [Benjamin] Caldwell & [John] Ford.3
1. Edward H. Tatum, Jr., ed., The American Journal of Ambrose Serie, 1776-1778. (San Marino, Calif., 1940), 134-35. Hereafter cited as Tatum, ed., Serle's Journal.
2. William Floyd was a New York delegate in the Continental Congress.
3. Captains respectively of H.M.S. Emerald and H.M.S. Unicorn.
