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Give Me a Fast Ship

Page 61

by Tim McGrath


  82 NDAR, 9:297–298; Thompson to McNeill, 7/19/77; MHS, McNeill Letter Book, McNeill to Thompson, 7/21/77.

  CHAPTER SIX “THE GANG OF PYRATES”

  1 NDAR, 9:597–98, 8/23/77.

  2 Watson’s Annals, Vol. 2, “Occurences of the War of Independence,” 295.

  3 Gregory Keen, “The Descendants of Jöran Kyn,” PMHB 4:486; HSP, Christ Church Marriage Records, 7/7/77; with thanks to Dr. Susan Klepp regarding Sarah’s wedding dress!

  4 Pennsylvania Evening Post, 7/29/77; NDAR, 9:821–822, John Dorsius to Continental Marine Committee, 8/26/77; Clark, Captain Dauntless, 187–191.

  5 LOC, JPJP, Lieutenant William Grinnell to Jones, 1/17/77.

  6 Henry Louis Gates, “Phillis Wheatley” (Jefferson Lectures, National Endowment for the Humanities); Vincent Carretta, Phillis Wheatley: Biography of a Genius in Bondage (Athens and London: University of Georgis Press, 2011), 11–23.

  7 LOC, JPJP, Jones to McNeill, est. Summer 1777; Thomas, 84–85; Morison, 143–44.

  8 Ibid., Jones to the American Commissioners in France, 6/3/77; NDAR, 8:937–938, Secret Committee of the Continental Congress to Jones, 5/9/77.

  9 JCC, 6/14/77.

  10 LOC, JPJP, Jones to Marine Committee, 7/21 and 8/30/77; Morison, 134–135; Van Powell, 90; Millar, 232–235.

  11 NDAR, 9:208, Ranger Broadside; LOC, JPJP, Jones to Marine Committee, 7/21/77; Jones to John Langdon, 9/11/77; Jones to Morris, 7/28/77; Jones to McNeill, 8/24/77; Jones to John Brown, 10/31/77; NDAR, 10:367, JPJ Expense Account.

  12 NDAR, 8:745–746, John Barton & Co. to Lord Stormont, 4/5/77.

  13 NDAR, 8:641–642, Wickes to American Commissioners, 3/5/77; ibid., 8:786–787, American Commissioners to Captain Henry Johnson, 4/21/77.

  14 APS, BFP, Wickes to American Commissioners, 4/15/77 and 4/25/77; NDAR, 8:791–792, Johnson to American Commissioners, 4/25/77.

  15 NDAR, 8:862–863, Wickes to Nicholson, 5/23/77; APS, BFP, Franklin to Du Longpuy & Douglas, 6/23/77.

  16 Ibid., 9:443–444, Captain George Bowyer, R.N., to Philip Stephens, 6/29/77; ibid., Wickes to American Commissioners, 6/28/77; Millar, 114–115; Clark, Lambert Wickes, 222–223.

  17 APS, BFP, Wickes to American Commissioners, 6/28/77; Nicholson to American Commissioners, 6/28/77.

  18 Liverpool General Advertiser, 7/4/77.

  19 King, Harbors, etc., 211.

  20 APS, BFP, Wickes to American Commissioners, 6/28/77; Nicholson to American Commissioners, 6/28/77; NDAR, 9:443–444, Bowyer to Stephens, 6/29/77.

  21 Ibid.; NDAR, 9:443–444, Bowyer to Stephens, 6/29/77.

  22 NDAR, 9:443–444, Bowyer to Stephens, 6/29/77.

  23 Ibid., 474–475, Wickes to Johnson, 7/8/77.

  24 Ibid.; Miller, 295.

  25 APS, BFP, Nicholson to American Commissioners, 6/28/77; NDAR, 9:436, Nicholson to Jonathan Williams, Jr., 6/28/77; ibid., 9:461, Williams to Robert Morris, 7/8/77.

  26 Hayes, 28.

  27 NDAR, 9:462–463, Weymouth to Stormont, 7/4/77.

  28 Ibid., 9:472, Lord Mayor of Dublin to Richard Heron, 7/7/77; ibid., 9:478–481, Stormont to Weymouth, 7/9/77; ibid., 9:493–494, Stormont to Weymouth, 7/12/77; Augur, 185.

  29 APS, BFP, Vergennes to Franklin and Deane, 7/16/77; Miller, 296.

  30 NDAR, 9:510–511, American Commissioners to Vergennes, 7/17/77; ibid., 9:531–532, Weymouth to Stormont; 7/25/77; ibid., 9:540–542, Stormont to Weymouth, 7/30/77.

  31 NDAR, 9:466–467, Frazer to Weymouth, 7/5/77.

  32 Ibid., 9:411–414, Stormont to Weymouth, 6/19/77; ibid., 9:398–399, Lieutenant William Hills, R.N., to Philip Stephens, 6/14/77; ibid., 404–405, “A.B.” to Edward Stanley, Custom House, London, 6/17/77; London Chronicle, 6/17/77.

  33 London Packet, 6/25–27/77; NDAR, 9:409–410, Lords Commanders, Admiralty, to Commanders of Four Cruisers, 6/19/77; ibid., 9:411–414, Stormont to Weymouth, 6/19/77; ibid., 9:424, Frazer to Weymouth, 6/23/77.

  34 Neeser, 53–54, M. de Gourlande to Vergennes, 7/1/77; ibid., 59–61, Carmichael to American Commissioners, 7/10/77; London Chronicle, 7/5/77; NDAR, 9:461, Frazer to Weymouth, 7/3/77.

  35 Ibid., 63–66, M. de Gourlande to Vergennes, 7/12/77; William Caldwell to Conyngham, 7/15/77.

  36 Neeser, 66–69, Stormont to Weymouth, 7/16/77; de Gourlande to Vergennes, 7/20/77.

  37 PMHB, “Narrative,” 480.

  38 Neeser, 3; Hayes, 30.

  39 NDAR, 9:517, Conyngham to Benjamin Bailey, 7/21/77; ibid., 9:534–535, Captain Francis Richards, R.N., to Philip Stephens, 7/26/77; Hayes, 30.

  40 NDAR, 9:522, “An Agreement Made between Benjamin Bailey and Francis Mulligan,” 7/23/77; ibid., 9:522, Lieutenant John Moore, R.N., to Philip Stephens, 7/26/77.

  41 NDAR, 9:601, Conyngham to Deane, 8/24/77; ibid., 9:562, Lloyd’s Evening Post, 8/11/77; Fowler, 127; Hayes, 32.

  42 NDAR, 9:601, Conyngham to Deane, 8/24/77.

  43 Ibid., 9:615–616, Herman Katencamp to Lord Weymouth, 8/30/77.

  44 Ibid.; Hayes, 32.

  45 MHS, McNeill to Marine Committee, 8/25/77; McNeill to Marine Committee, 9/9/77.

  46 NDAR, 9:165, Captain John David to Governor Thomas Johnson, 6/24/77; ibid., 9:197, Samuel Purviance, Jr., to Robert Morris, 7/1/77; ibid., 9:225–226, Journal of HMS Thames, Captain Tyringham Howe, 7/2–7/6/77.

  47 JCC, 7/24/77; Pennsylvania Evening Post, 7/10/77.

  48 State Historical Society of Wisconsin, William Bell Clark Estate, Central Navy Board to John Barry and Thomas Read, 7/31/77.

  49 HSP, William Howe’s Proclamation, 8/27/77; NDAR, 9:56–57, Vice Admiral Richard, Lord Howe’s Standing Orders to the Fleet, 6/8/77; Watson’s Annals, 2:283; Fleming, 237–238; McCullough, 176; Lancaster, 173.

  50 LOC, GWP, Washington to Hancock, 9/23/77; UVL, Narrative of Andrew Snape Hamond, 9/1–913/77; McCullough, 172–173; Ron Chernow, Washington: A Life (New York: Penguin, 2010), 99; Thomas A. Doerflinger, A Vigorous Spirit of Enterprise (Chapel Hill: University of North Caroline Press, 1986) 210.

  51 ISM, BHP, Memorial to Congress, 1785; Barry’s memorial to Congress, 1785, copied in Cark, Gallant John Barry, plate. David Library of the American Revolution (“DLAR”) (copy), and PRO, 12/40/56, “The Memorial of William Austin, late of the City of Philadelphia,” April 1786.

  52 Watson’s Annals, 2:282–283.

  53 DLAR (copy), and PRO, 12/40/56, “The Memorial of William Austin, late of the City of Philadelphia,” April 1786; PMHB, 6:41, “Journal of John Montresor.”

  54 Pennsylvania Evening Post, 9/27/77.

  55 PMHB, Montresor, 42; NDAR, 9: 973–974, Diary of Francis Dowman, Royal Artillery, 9/26/77.

  56 Ibid., 42–43.

  57 ISM, BHP, Memorial to the Pennsylvania Assembly, 1783; Memorial to Congress, 1785; Clark, Gallant John Barry, 124.

  58 NDAR, 9:974–975, Lieutenant Colonel William Smith to George Washington, 9/27/77; Jackson, The Delaware Bay etc., 18.

  59 Liverpool Journal, 9/30/77; NDAR, 10:487, Major General Nathanael Greene to George Washington, 11/14; ibid., 10:489–492, 503, de Fleury Journal, 11/14–15/77; PMHB, Montresor’s Journal, 44–57 and 195–197, entries for 10/11–11/30/77.

  60 NDAR, 10:501–503, Dowman’s Diary, 11/15/77; Miller, 251.

  61 NDAR, 10:568–569, PMHB, Montresor Journal, 193; Miller, 251; Van Powell, 64.

  62 LOC, GWP, Washington to Navy Board, 10/27/77; ISM, BHP, Barry to Congress, 1/10/78.

  63 Crawford, ed., Autobiography of a Yankee Mariner, 104.

  64 ISM, BHP, Barry to Congress, 1/10/78.

  65 Ibid., JCC, 12/30/77; LDC, Morris to Marine Committee, 12/19/77.

  66 NDAR, 9:583–587, Howe to Stephens, 11/23/77; ibid., 11:1038–1039, Stephens to Lord Howe, 2/24/78.

  67 APS, BFP, Nicholson to American Commissioners, 8/11/77; NDAR, 9:863–866, Biddle to Morris, 9/1/77 (and
footnote).

  68 Ibid.; Biddle, Autobiography, 100–101; Clark, Captain Dauntless, 199.

  69 NDAR, 9:863–866, Biddle to Morris, 9/1/77; PA Archives, Series 4, 552, “Certificate of Service of John McPherson”; Biddle, Autobiography, 103; South Carolina and American General Gazette, 9/11/77; Clark, 202.

  70 HSP, Biddle Papers, Nicholas Biddle to James Biddle, 11/22/77; Pennsylvania Evening Post, 11/20/77; Clark, Captain Dauntless, 207.

  71 NDAR, 9:919–920, Biddle to Morris, 9/12/77.

  72 NDAR, 9:41–42, Journal of the NY Council of Safety, 6/6/77.

  73 NDAR, 10:47, Journal of the HM Galley Dependence, Lieutenant James Clark, 10/6/77; ibid., 10:73, Colonel Hugh Hughes to Major General Horatio Gates, 10/8/77.

  74 MHS, McNeill Letter Book, McNeill to Marine Committee, 8/25/77; NDAR, 9:891–892, Warren to J. Adams, 9/7/77; ibid., 9:922–923, Continental Navy Board of the Eastern Department to the President of Congress, 9/13/77.

  75 Providence Gazette, 6/14/77; NDAR, 9:22, Journal of H.M.S. Orpheus, Captain Charles Hudson, 6/5/77; ibid., 9:133–136, John Bradford to Leonard Jarvis, 6/18/77 and footnote, Trevett’s Journal; LOC, John Bradford Letter Books, Vol. 1, Bradford to Jarvis, 6/26/77.

  76 NDAR, 9:854–855, Trevett’s Journal, 6/1–8/31/77.

  77 Ibid.; New York Gazette, 8/18/77.

  78 Trevett’s Journal, quoted from Morgan, 81–82.

  79 LOC, JPJP, Jones to John Brown, 10/31/77; NDAR, 9:208, Ranger Broadside.

  80 LOC, JPJP, John Wendell to Jones, 10/29/77; Jones to Wendell, 12/11/77; Thomas, 91.

  81 Ibid., Jones to Brown, 10/31/77; Bradford Letter Book, Bradford to Jarvis, 6/18/77; Thomas, 90–92; Morison, 143–144.

  82 Ibid.; MHS, Commodore George Henry Preble, USN, Diary of Ezra Green.

  83 NDAR, 8:472–475, Continental Marine Committee to Captain Thomas Thomp- son, 4/29/77; ibid., 9:828–829, William Whipple to Robert Morris, 8/28/77; HSP, Gratz Collection, Whipple to Dr. A. R. Cutter, 8/31/77.

  84 NDAR, 9:895–896, Thompson to Langdon, 9/8/77.

  85 NDAR, 9:877, Journal of H.M. Sloop Druid, Captain Peter Carteret, 9/4/77; ibid., 9:877–888, Lieutenant’s Journal of H.M. Sloop Druid, Lieutenant John Bourchier, 9/4/77; Journal of H.M. Sloop Weazle, Captain Charles Hope, 9/4/77; ibid., 9:881–882, Journal of H.M.S. Camel, Captain William Finch, 9/5/77; ibid., 9:882 and 888–889, Bourchier’s Journal, 9/5/77 and 9/6/77; ibid., 9:895–896, Thompson to Langdon, 9/8/77.

  86 NDAR, 9:895–996, Thompson to Langdon, 9/8/77.

  87 APS, BFP, Wickes to American Commissioners, 7/23/77, 8/7/77, 8/15/77; Nicholson to American Commissioners, 8/11/77, 8/15/77.

  88 NDAR, 9:528–530, Deposition of William and James Newell and John Harrison, 7/25/77.

  89 NDAR, 9:640, Wickes to Johnson, 9/14/77.

  90 APS, BFP, Nicholson to American Commissioners, 9/21/77.

  91 NDAR, 9:669–671, Deposition of Captain Henry Johnson, Continental Navy Brig Lexington, 9/30/77; ibid., 9:673, Captain John Elliot, R.N., to Philip Stephens, 9/30/77.

  92 NDAR, 9:651–652, Journal of H.M. Cutter Alert, Lieutenant John Bazeley, 9/19–20/77; ibid., 9:669–671, Johnson’s Deposition.

  93 Ibid., 9:659, Elliot to Stephens, 9/25/77; ibid., 9:662, Stephens to Elliott, 9/26/77; ibid., 9:663, Journal of Samuel Cutler, 9/26/77, Elliott to Stephens, 9/26/77.

  94 London Daily Advertiser, 9/30/77; NDAR, 9:668–669, Sir Hugh Paliser to Lord Sandwich, 9/29/77.

  95 NDAR, 10:942–945, William McCreery to John Adams, 10/10/77.

  96 Pennsylvania Packet, 2/11/78; Dunlap’s Maryland Gazette, 2/3/78; King, Sea of Words, 290–291.

  97 NDAR, 10:180, Brigadier General Henry Watson Powell to Brigadier General Allan MacLean, 10/16/77; ibid., 10:339–340, Jones to Marine Committee, 10/29/77.

  98 NDAR, 10:355–356, Massachusetts Council to Captain John Harris, 10/30/77; LOC, JPJP, Jones to Hewes, 10/30/77.

  99 LOC, JPJP, Jones to Morris and Jones to Hewes, 10/30/77; Morison, 145.

  100 MHS, Ezra Green Diary, 11/16–22/77; HSP, Dreer, Jones to William Whipple, 12/11/77; LOC, JPJP, Jones to Morris, 12/11/77; King, Sea of Words, 105.

  101 Freeman’s Journal, 4/14/78; MHS, Green’s Diary, 11/29/77; APS, BFP, Jones to American Commissioners, 12/4/77; NDAR, 10: Appendix A, Log of the Continental Navy Ship Ranger, Captain John Paul Jones, 11/29–12/4/77.

  102 NDAR, 10:1045, 1062, Journal of Dr. Jonathan Haskins, 11/28 and 12/3/77; Schiff, 110–111.

  CHAPTER SEVEN “UNDER THE VAULT OF HEAVEN”

  1 NDAR, 10:1175–1177, Engagement Between Continental Navy Frigate Randolph and H.M.S. Yarmouth.

  2 Ibid., 10:957–962, “Memoir on French Naval Strategy,” January 1778; Susan Mary Alsop, Yankees at the Court: The First Americans in Paris (New York; Doubleday, 1982), 34–37.

  3 NDAR, 10:1083–1085, Jones to Marine Committee, 12/22/77; LOC, JPJP, John Wendell to Jones, 10/29/77; HSP, Dreer, Jones to William Whipple, 12/11/77.

  4 LOC, JPJP, American Commissioners to Jones, 12/17/77; Jones to John Young, 11/18/78; William Bell Clark, The First Saratoga: Being the Saga of John Young and His Ship-of-War (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1953), 14–16; NDAR, 10:1058, American Commissioners to Jones, 12/2/77; ibid., 10:1109–1110, Young to American Commissioners, 12/16/77.

  5 Schiff, 119.

  6 Ibid., 45–47; Thomas, 96–97.

  7 LOC, JPJP, Thompson to Jones, 12/26/77; Thomas, 103.

  8 Thomas, 102; Morison, 154.

  9 McCullough, 190 and 201; Schiff, 61; Thomas, 97.

  10 NDAR, 11:977–979, Stormont to Weymouth, 2/6/78.

  11 LOC, JPJP, Simpson to Jones, 12/23/77 and 12/26/77; Jones to American Commissioners, 6/78; NDAR, 10: Appendices, Log of the Continental Navy Ship Ranger, 12/17/77–1/1/78.

  12 APS, BFP. American Commissioners to Jones, 1/15/78. Historians differ on whether Jones actually had an affair with Mme. de Chaumont. Samuel Eliot Morison believes he did, while Evan Thomas thinks otherwise, given that Jones was drawn to attractive, younger women, while Mme. de Chaumont was . . . somewhat older than Jones, and her days as a young beauty were a bit . . . behind her.

  13 Ibid., 1/16/78; NDAR, 11:919, Arthur Lee to Jones (with PS from Franklin and Deane), 1/17/78; LOC, JPJP, Captain Mathew Parke to Jones, 2/19/78.

  14 NDAR, 11:1130–1132, Gabriel de Sartine to Comte d’Estaing, 3/26/78; Morison, 159–160; Thomas, 107.

  15 NDAR, 11:1187, Ranger’s log, 2/14/78.

  16 PMHB, 4:485–486, “Descendants of Jöran Kyn.”

  17 LDC, Morris to Marine Committee, 12/19/77.

  18 PA Archives, Series II, 3:154, President Wharton of the Supreme Executive Council to Colonel Henry Haller; RG 27, AO 12/40/56, “Memorial of William Austin,” 4/3/86; Pennsylvania Packet, 10/3/78; JCC, 12/30/77.

  19 Emelin Knox Parker, “A Biographical Sketch of John Brown,” Historical Society of Pennsylvania (Carlisle, 1918; revised 1928, 1935), 3; JCC 1/10/78; LDC, Morris to Marine Committee, 12/19/77.

  20 NDAR, 11:172–174, de Fleury to John Laurens, 1/20/78; Watson’s Annals, 2:336.

  21 JCC, 1/29/78; LDC, Marine Committee to Barry, 1/29/78; Marine Committee to Middle Navy Board, 1/29/78.

  22 Matthewman, “Narrative of Luke Matthewman,” 178; LDC, Marine Committee to Barry, 3/11/78; NDAR, 11:200–201, William Bradford to President Thomas Wharton, Jr., 1/24/78.

  23 Ibid.; ISM, BHP, Barry’s Memorial to Congress, 1785.

  24 LOC, GWP, Wayne to Washington, 2/25/78.

  25 Ibid.; Wayne to Barry, 2/23/78; Matthewman, 178.

  26 LOC, GWP, Wayne to Washington, 2/25/78; Barry to Washington. 2/26/78; NDAR, 11:420–421, Roebuck Journal, 2/24/78; ibid., 11:440, Master’s Journal of H.M. Galley Cornwallis, Lt. Thomas Spry, 2/26/78.

  27 Pennsylvania Gazette, 3/18/78; LOC, GWP, “Articles of Surrender for the British Schoon
er” Alert, 3/7/78; Barry to Washington, 3/9/78; Smallwood to Washington, 3/9/78; NDAR, 11:803–805, “Extract of a Letter from Captain James Ferguson to the Viscount Howe, dated Brune at Sea the 27th March 1778.”

  28 NDAR, 11:559–560, Journal of HMS Experiment, Captain Sir James Wallace, 3/9/78; PMHB, Montresor Journal, 196–197.

  29 LOC, GWP, Barry to Washington, 3/9/78; LDC, Marine Committee to Barry, 3/11/78.

  30 Ibid.

  31 Ibid.

  32 NDAR, 11:559–560, Journal of HMS Experiment, Captain Sir James Wallace, 3/9/78; ibid., 11:560, Journal of HM Sloop Dispatch, Commander Christopher Mason, 3/9/78; ibid., 11:803–805, Ferguson to Howe, 3/27/78; LOC, GWP, Smallwood to Washington, 3/16/78; Matthewman, 178.

  33 Pennsylvania Gazette, 3/18/78; LDC, Marine Committee Letter Book, Marine Committee to Barry, 3/26/78; LOC, GWP, Washington to Barry, 3/12/78.

  34 LDC, Miscellaneous Papers, Marine Committee Letter Book, 1/13/78; New Jersey Gazette, 5/13/78; Pennsylvania Packet, 6/16/78; Excerpt of a manuscript by James Read, quoted in Gurn, Commodore John Barry, 97; LOC, GWP, Washington to Philemon Dickenson, 5/13/78.

  35 DLAR (copy), and PRO, 12/40/56, “The Memorial of William Austin, late of the City of Philadelphia,” April 1786.

  36 PRO, 331/1017, Captain’s Journal, HMS Experiment.

  37 APS, BFP, Continental Navy Board of the Eastern Department to American Commissioners, 2/2/78; McCullough, 172, 174.

  38 NDAR, 11:311–312, Continental Navy Board of the Eastern Department to Captain Samuel Tucker, 2/10/78 (two letters).

  39 MHS, AFP, Diary of John Adams (D/JA 47), 3, 2/13/78.

  40 Ibid., also 22–23.

  41 Ibid., 5–7; NDAR, 11:353, Journal of the Continental Navy Frigate Boston, Captain Samuel Tucker, 2/16/78.

  42 NDAR, 11:373–374 and 394–395, Boston Journal, 2/19–21/78.

  43 MHS, Adams Diary, 8–9.

  44 NDAR, 11:382, 383, 402, 405, 416, 425; Journal of Marine Lieutenant William Jennison, 2/20–25/78, Boston Journal, 2/20–25/78.

  45 MHS, AFP, Adams’s Diary, 11–12, 2/26/78.

  46 Ibid., 12–16, 2/27–3/3/78.

  47 Ibid., 19–20, 3/7/78.

  48 NDAR, 11, 1078, Boston Journal, 3/11/78; Miller, 320.

 

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