European Theatre from January 1, 1777, to May 31, 1777
Upon examination of the Concord, her Inventory was found very deficient, ー those things which we thought would be a diminution of her price of at least 5000 Livres were not in her. It seems the owner has lately fitted out a large Ship for the Coast of Guinea and has taken from one to supply the other. This determined Mr Peltier to purchase the Count de Vergennes which is of the same size and age... Continue Reading
Date: 13 February 1777
Volume: Volume 8
Information has been received that a Mr Lee who is employed as an Agent for the Colonies in rebellion has set out for Spain. If he should come to Madrid, Your Excellency will pay such attention to his motions and applications as may be consistent with your situation. It has also been represented that a Mr Diggs [Thomas Digges] who is likewise an Agent from the American Congress has sent on board... Continue Reading
Date: 14 February 1777
Volume: Volume 8
The conversation Your Excy had with M. de Maurepas and the proper observations You made on the part they are now acting were extremely proper and may have some good effect. The great care the french Ministers take that the succours the American Rebels receive from France shall bear every appearance of being sent by private persons makes it inexpedient to remonstrate publickly on the subject, but... Continue Reading
Date: 14 February 1777
Volume: Volume 8
I have communicated to my Lords Commrs of the Admty your Letter of the 11th inst informing them that the Somerset has been dock'd & the Raisonable taken into Dock in her room; that upon the Torbay's being order'd to Sea you have caused the Rebel Prisoners2 to be removed to the Burford; that the Seven Prisoners on board the Experiment, who belonged to an American Vessel 3... Continue Reading
Date: 14 February 1777
Volume: Volume 8
Whereas we intend that His Majesty's Ship under your command together with the Cygnet Sloop, now on her passage to Cork, shall convoy the Trade bound from thence to the West India Islands; You are hereby required and directed to take the said Sloop under your command (her Commander being directed to obey your Orders) and so soon as the Wind shall be fair after the 20th Instant if the Cygnet shall... Continue Reading
Date: 14 February 1777
Volume: Volume 8
I have made so bold to send you these few lines to acquaint you with our misfortune of being taken by an American on the first day of February, called the Reprisal of 16 Guns and 135 Men, Commanded by one Weeks [Lambert Wickes], and was sent here to this port where we have got Subsistance to carry us to St Malo and the English Broker tells me that you may recover the Vessell & Cargo by... Continue Reading
Date: 14 February 1777
Volume: Volume 8
This will inform you of my Safe arrival after a tolerable Successfull Cruize, having Captured 3 Sail of Brigs one Snow & One Ship, the Snow is a Falmouth Packet bound from thence to Lisbon she is Mounted with 16 Guns and had Near 50 Men on board She Engaged Near an hour before she struck I had one Man killed My first Leiut had his left Arm shot of[f] above the Elbow2 & the... Continue Reading
Date: 14 February 1777
Volume: Volume 8
. . . A large ship, last week, arrived at L'Orient, in six weeks from Charleston, bound to this Port; she has on board five hundred barrels of Rice ー and upwards of sixty thousand pounds of Indigo; the Cargo (except fourteen thousand pounds of the Indigo, which is on private Account,) belongs to the State, and as it comes to a good market ー it will produce a great profit, and neat at least... Continue Reading
Date: 14 February 1777
Volume: Volume 8
Mr Pennant one of the Members for Liverpool having laid before my Lords Commrs of the Admty Extract of a Letter which he has receiv'd from the Chamber of Commerce at Liverpool desiring him to apply to their Lordships for some Protection for their Homeward bound Trade from Tortola, and that a Sloop of War may be appointed to attend their Ships til they can join the Fleet off Anguilla; I am... Continue Reading
Date: 15 February 1777
Volume: Volume 8
In pursuance of His Majts pleasure signified to Us by the Earl of Suffolk, one of His Majestys Principal Secretaries of State, in his Letter of this days date, You are hereby required and directed to station proper Cruizers off the Harbour of St Eustatia, and to direct their Commanders to search all Dutch Ships and Vessels going into or coming out of the said Harbour, and to send such of them as... Continue Reading
Date: 15 February 1777
Volume: Volume 8
The Experiment man of war has carried into Plymouth an American brig, which she took near Rhode-island, bound from St. Martin's to Philadelphia.1
The Experiment man of war arrived from Rhode-island, was a new ship when she sailed from England to America; she is built on a new plan, for though a 50 gun ship, she is just like a frigate, having no Roundhouse on the quarter-deck, and being... Continue Reading
Date: 15 February 1777
Volume: Volume 8
I take the first opportunity of letting Your Lordship know, that I have very good Reason to believe, that Mr Lee, one of the Rebel Emmissaries here, has succeeded in making an Agreement with the Farmers General, and that it is actually Signed. By this Agreement, (which to avoid the appearance of treating with the Rebels, or their Agents, is made with a Monsieur Boileau, Huissier du Parlement, who... Continue Reading
Date: 16 February 1777
Volume: Volume 8
Last Night arrived here John Grindlay, Mate of the Isabella of this Place, which was taken the 15th of October last, off the Coast of Portland, on her Passage to Minorca, by an American armed Schooner.2 Mr Grindlay and one of the Crew were left in the Ship, and ten Men were put on board from the Schooner; they carried the Isabella into Marblehead, it being impossible for these two to... Continue Reading
Date: 17 February 1777
Volume: Volume 8
Whereas application hath been made to Us that the Ships named on the other side hereof, bound from the Port of London to the River Senegal with very valuable Cargoes, (part of which Ships are now supposed to be at, and the remainder on their way to Spithead) may proceed under your convoy, You are hereby required and directed to make enquiry for the said Ships, and taking them, or such of them as... Continue Reading
Date: 17 February 1777
Volume: Volume 8
On Saturday Evening a Messenger arrived at Lord Viscount Weymouth's Office from Lord Viscount Stormont, his Majesty's Embassador at the French Court, with an Account of Three capital Ships having sailed from Toulon, the Day before the Messenger was dispatched to England, laden with Arms, Gunpowder, and Cloathing for the American Rebels, under Pretence of being bound to the French Settlements in... Continue Reading
Date: 17 February 1777
Volume: Volume 8
Whereas Mr. Robert Faulkner has been Educated in the Royal Academy at Portsmouth, and is well qualified to serve His Majesty at Sea, you are hereby required and directed to receive him on Board His Majesty's Ship under your Command, and enter him as one of her Complement.
You are to take Care that he applies himself to the Duty of a Seaman; and he is to have the Privilege of walking the Quarter-... Continue Reading
Date: 18 February 1777
Volume: Volume 8
[1777. February] 17. Very stormy. To-day we had delivered to us, by the purser of the ship, bedding and clothes. I received a shirt, and bedding, consisting of a flock bed and pillows, a rug, and blankets. Some, who were almost naked, had nearly a whole suit given them. when they gave us the shirts, they told us to take off our old ones and throw them overboard, "lice and all."
18. Those of us... Continue Reading
Date: 18 February 1777
Volume: Volume 8
All the Examinations, inquisitions and surveys of arms and Merchandise, Sir, have doubtless an object of great usefulness, since they have been thought necessary. They have at least Served to refute all the base Suspicions which have been feigned as to the excellence of the articles furnished; that is to say in good French, as to the honesty of Mr Hortalez. But was all this worth the time that it... Continue Reading
Date: 19 February 1777
Volume: Volume 8
My Last Letters from Nantes say, that an American Vessel, called the Success, James Anderson Master, Burthen about two hundred Tons, Laden with salt and Arms, is on the point of Sailing from thence, for North America. Another American Ship called the Elisabeth and Mary, Capt. [Peter] Young Master, about 300 Tons Burthen, and Likewise Laden with salt and Arms, is also preparing to sail. It is... Continue Reading
Date: 19 February 1777
Volume: Volume 8
I Wrot you Last post Informing you of the Sucksess of my Last Cruize & take this Opertunity To Inform you of the Safe Arrival of All my Prizes am in Great hopes youl be Able to Obtain Leav for me to heav Down and Repair my Ship at this port As that will be Absolutely Nessessary prior To my Departure from this as I Recd a Shott in Bottom when the Swallo[w] engaged me. When I Arriv~ At this... Continue Reading
Date: 19 February 1777
Volume: Volume 8
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