FOOTNOTES:
[314] For convenience the term “Naval Office” will be used in this chapter. It will be understood of course that there existed no “Naval Office” apart from the Office of the American representatives at Paris, in whom were vested diplomatic, naval, and commercial duties.
[315] Ingraham, Papers relative to Silas Deane, 67.
[316] Wharton’s Diplomatic Correspondence and Ford’s Letters of William Lee are the best sources for the work of these agents.
[317] Wharton, Diplomatic Correspondence II, 595, Adams to Commercial Committee, May 24, 1778.
[318] Wharton, Diplomatic Correspondence II, 191, 200, Deane to Committee of Secret Correspondence, November 6, November 28, 1776.
[319] Collections of New York Historical Society, Deane Papers, II, 122; Journals of Continental Congress, May 9, 1778.
[320] Ingraham, Papers relative to Silas Deane, 141-49.
[321] Wharton, Diplomatic Correspondence, III, 802-03; IV, 26, 33; Hale’s Franklin in France, I, chapter XVI, Privateers from Dunkirk.
[322] Wharton, Diplomatic Correspondence III, 731.
[323] Journals of Continental Congress, October 3, 1776; Wharton, Diplomatic Correspondence, II, 177.
[324] Wharton, Diplomatic Correspondence, II, 284.
[325] Wharton, Diplomatic Correspondence, II, 284-85.
[326] Ibid., 433, Commissioners to Committee of Foreign Affairs, November 30, 1777.
[327] Wharton, Diplomatic Correspondence, V, 512-13.
[328] Wharton, Diplomatic Correspondence, III, 189, 193, Franklin to Committee of Foreign Affairs, May 26, 1779.
[329] Collections of New York Historical Society, Deane Papers, IV, 159.
[330] Wharton, Diplomatic Correspondence, III, 801-03, 880-81; Bigelow’s Franklin, VII, 54-55, 58-59.
[331] Pennsylvania Packet, May-June, 1782. Another list will be found in New England Historical and Genealogical Register for 1865, 74, 136, 209.
[332] Wharton, Diplomatic Correspondence, V, 326-27.
[333] Hale’s Franklin in France, I, Chapter XI, American Prisoners, prints many original letters.
[334] Wharton, Diplomatic Correspondence, II, 724.
[335] Wharton, Diplomatic Correspondence, III, 535, 608, 681-82, 745-46.
[336] Wharton, Diplomatic Correspondence, V, 276.
[337] Ibid., III, 189.
[338] Wharton, Diplomatic Correspondence, II, 425, 435, 784, 827; IV, 24, 180; Stevens’s Facsimiles, 1967, 1969; Bigelow’s Franklin, VII, 308; C. H. Lincoln, Calendar of John Paul Jones Manuscripts, 163.
[339] Wharton, Diplomatic Correspondence, II, 682-83, 684-87.
[340] Hale’s Franklin in France, I, 245. Franklin issued a similar proclamation in behalf of the celebrated navigator, Captain Cook.—Wharton, Diplomatic Correspondence, III, 75.
[341] Wharton, Diplomatic Correspondence, II, 759-60.
[342] Collections of New York Historical Society, Deane Papers, I, 339-40. The letter of Deane here published, it is believed, was written to the Committee of Secret Correspondence, and not to the Secret Committee as given.
[343] Wharton, Diplomatic Correspondence, II, 199. Deane to Committee of Secret Correspondence, November 28, 1776.
[344] Wharton, Diplomatic Correspondence, II, 324-27.
[345] Wharton, Diplomatic Correspondence, II, 818-19, 832-33.
[346] Wharton, Diplomatic Correspondence, II, 440-41.
[347] Ibid., 673-74.
CHAPTER X
NAVAL DUTIES OF AMERICAN REPRESENTATIVES IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES
(Continued)
In 1777 the work of the Naval Office at Paris was greater and more varied than during any other year. Naval vessels were both built and purchased. Continental ships, and merchantmen chartered from the French, were laden for America with muskets, cannon, powder, cordage, duck, tents, blankets, and clothing. The naval prisoners in England and the violations of neutral rights committed by Continental ships and by privateers demanded much attention. In the spring the Continental brig “Lexington,” and in the fall the “Raleigh,” “Alfred,” and “Independence,” arrived in France. The “Reprisal,” 16, “Lexington,” 14, “Dolphin,” 10, “Surprise,” 10, and “Revenge,” 14, were fitted and refitted in French ports and sent cruising off the British coasts; and the prizes of these vessels were sold in France. The “Dolphin,” “Surprise,” and “Revenge” were officered and manned in France. The task of conducting all these naval activities in a neutral country the Commissioners found to be a most delicate one.
Among the earlier undertakings of the American representatives at Paris were their attempts to obtain the freedom of French ports for American vessels. Nor was their work of this sort confined wholly to the French Court, for in the spring of 1777 Arthur Lee sought at Madrid permission for American vessels to sell their prizes and to refit in Spanish ports; and later in the year he went on a similar errand to Berlin. Both the Spanish and Prussian Courts refused his requests.[348] Prizes were, however, without difficulty secretly disposed of in Spain.
As early as August, 1776, Deane wrote from Paris that he was “not without hopes of obtaining liberty for the armed vessels of the United Colonies, to dispose of their prizes in the ports of this Kingdom, and also for arming and fitting out vessels of war directly from hence.”[349] When Franklin arrived in France, early in December, 1776, he carried instructions for the Commissioners to apply immediately to the Court of France for the protection of its ports to American ships of war, privateers, and prizes. If this favor were granted, he was to ask for permission to sell American prizes and their cargoes in French ports. In case both requests met with favorable responses, the Committee of Secret Correspondence would obtain the consent of Congress to empower the Commissioners to appoint a judge of admiralty in France; this judge would try all American prize cases, arising in the ports of France, in accordance with the rules and regulations of Congress. Pending the obtaining of the consent of Congress, the Commissioners were authorized to consult with the French Ministry whether it would permit the erection of American admiralty courts in France and the French West Indies.[350] Of course France could not grant such requests as these if she wished to remain at peace with England. During 1776 the Americans generally overestimated the friendliness of France. They either failed to see that the laws of neutrality must set quite definite limits to her overt favors, or else they thought her eager for an excuse to go to war with Great Britain. The attitude of France towards permitting American vessels of war and their prizes the freedom of French ports was disclosed sooner than the Commissioners had reason to expect.
It is remembered that the “Reprisal” arrived in France with Franklin on board early in December, 1776. She was the first Continental vessel to reach European waters. Not far from the French coast she captured two small British brigantines, and carried them into Nantes. These were the first American prizes to enter French ports. It may be guessed that the captains of the two prizes were not long in communicating with Lord Stormont, the British Ambassador at Paris, and that Lord Stormont was not long in communicating with the French government. On December 17 he held a conference with Vergennes, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, to whom he declared that the prizes were unlawfully captured, since the “Reprisal” had no commission from a sovereign power as a letter of marque; that he expected that the prizes would be immediately restored to their owners; and that the permitting of their sale would be a violation of the treaty of Utrecht between Great Britain and France. Though conciliatory, Vergennes’s reply was not altogether satisfactory to the British Ambassador, who records that the French Minister ended “with expressions which seemed to shew an Intention of taking some Middle Way, and leaving the Point undetermined.”[351]
During 1777 Lord Stormont held many similar conferences with Vergennes in which the naval liberties permitted the Americans in French ports were the subject of discussion. Vergennes set forth the position of his government in a way that was reasonably acceptable to England. He declared that its purpose was to prevent every violation of its treaties and of the law of nations. He gave orders that the prizes captured by the Americans should not be sold in French ports. At different times he commanded the American vessels of war to sail within twenty-four hours from French harbors. When the British wrath flamed out at some overt act of the Americans, Vergennes appeased it by vigorous and decisive acts of repression, aimed at the American captains and agents. A past master in soft and plausible answers, he excused flagrant violations of British rights by explaining that every government had some tempestuous spirits which were hard to control, and that the “avidity of gain” in merchants could not always be restrained.
The British government could not object to the public acts of the French government, or to the reception which it gave to the American Commissioners, whom it received “privately with all civility,” but avoided an open reception, as it was “cautious of giving umbrage to England.” As regards its observance of the treaty of Utrecht, and its inability to grant the freedom of its ports to American vessels and their prizes, its declarations to the Commissioners were in line with those which it made to Lord Stormont. On the other hand, the Commissioners were given to understand, through secret and informal channels, that the Colonies had the sympathy of the French government; that so far as was consistent with French treaties, they might expect favors and indulgences; that the ports of France were open to American ships “as friends;” that ways of disposing of American prizes which would not be offensive to England might be found; and that other irregularities would be permitted unnoticed.[352] The Commissioners pressed their favors as far as they could safely go; indeed, so far, that at one time they endangered the continuance of their friendly relations with the French Court.
The two prizes which the “Reprisal” carried into Nantes in December, 1776, were taken into the offing of that port and privately sold. The “Reprisal” was quietly refitted, and in February, 1777, she made a cruise off the coast of Spain and returned to L’Orient with the Falmouth packet and four other English vessels. Lord Stormont made vigorous remonstrances. The French government at once ordered the “Reprisal” and her prizes to put to sea within twenty-four hours. Nothing of this sort was done. The “Reprisal” remained in port, on the ground that she had sprung a leak; and her prizes were secretly sold for one-seventh of their value to French merchants, who, for the sake of large profits, eagerly overlooked the irregularity of the transaction.[353] Confident of the accuracy of the cues they were receiving, the Commissioners now fitted out, manned, and officered at Dunkirk the “Surprise,” Captain Gustavus Conyngham, and early in May, 1777, sent her cruising. Within a few days after his leaving Dunkirk, Conyngham returned with the Harwich packet, and one other prize. The storm raised by the British at so open and undoubted a violation of their rights could be pacified only by more rigorous measures. The French government therefore imprisoned Captain Conyngham and his crew, and returned his prizes to their owners.[354]
Not at all disconcerted, the Commissioners fitted out a fleet, consisting of the “Reprisal,” “Lexington,” and “Dolphin,” to intercept the Irish linen ships. Captain Wickes was placed at its head as commodore, and was instructed not to return to France unless he found it absolutely necessary. Wickes got to sea during the first of June. Missing the linen ships, he sailed quite around Ireland, and captured or destroyed seventeen or eighteen sail of vessels; he “most effectually alarmed England, prevented the great fair at Chester, occasioned insurance to rise, and even deterred the English merchants from shipping goods in English bottoms at any rate, so that in a few weeks forty sail of French ships were loading in the Thames, on freight, an instance never before known.”[355] The three vessels returned to French ports about July 1.
Obviously there was a limit to the forbearance of the English government, and it made it plain that this limit had been reached. Lord Stormont was instructed to tell the French government that, however desirous the British king might be to maintain peace, he would not submit “to such strong and public instances of support and protection shewn to the Rebels by a Nation that at the same time professes in the strongest terms its Desire to maintain the present Harmony subsisting between the two Crowns. The shelter given to the armed Vessels of the Rebels, the facility they have of disposing of their Prizes by the connivance of Government, and the conveniences allowed them to refit, are such irrefragable proofs of support, that scarcely more could be done if there was an avowed Alliance between France and them, and We were in a state of War with that Kingdom.”[356]
This last cruise of Wickes also threatened to endanger the friendliness of the French Court and the Commissioners. Vergennes wrote to them with some spirit, and insinuated that they had broken their promises. “After such repeated advertisements,” he said, “the motives of which you have been informed of, we had no reason to expect, gentlemen, that the said Sieur Wickes would prosecute his cruising in the European seas, and we could not be otherwise than greatly surprised that, after having associated the privateers the Lexington and the Dolphin to infest the English coast, they should all three of them come for refuge into our ports. You are too well informed, gentlemen, and too penetrating, not to see how this conduct affects the dignity of the king, my master, at the same time it offends the neutrality which his majesty professes.”
In their reply the Commissioners exhibited some knowledge of the pleasing phrases of diplomacy. They said that they were “very sensible of the protection afforded to us and to our commerce since our residence in this kingdom, agreeable to the goodness of the king’s gracious intentions and to the law of nations, and it gives us real and great concern when any vessels of war appertaining to America, either through ignorance or inattention, do anything that may offend his majesty in the smallest degree.” They tried to shift the blame of their captains’ return to French ports to the British men of war that had chased the American vessels into safe retreats. “We had,” they continued, “some days before we were honored by your excellency’s letter, dispatched by an express the most positive orders to them to depart directly to America, which they are accordingly preparing to do.” There can be no doubt about the honesty of these orders, for it was plain to the Commissioners that the French government was not disposed to forgive further infringements of neutral rights. By express orders of the French king the fleet of Wickes was sequestered until it gave security that it should return directly to America.[357]
Meantime the Commissioners had obtained the release of Conyngham and his crew. He was now placed in command of the “Revenge;” and in July, eluding the British, he sailed from Dunkirk, ostensibly for America. He first cruised along the eastern coast of England, into the North Sea and the region of the Baltic, then back through the straits of Dover and into the Irish Channel, and finally into the Bay of Biscay, anchoring at Ferrol, Spain, about the first of October. The terror of his name, which his recklessness and daring greatly increased, spread great alarm among the inhabitants of the British Isles. He did not return again to France with the “Revenge.” This fact made his cruise less annoying to the Commissioners, than the last cruise of Wickes. Hodge, the agent of the Commissioners, who had given bond to the French admiralty that the “Revenge” would not engage in operations against the British, was arrested and thrown into the Bastile; and Vergennes wrote a most severe letter, to be shown to the Commissioners. Presently, when the wrath of the British had abated, Hodge was released on the representation of the Commissioners that he was a person of character, and that they could not “conceive him capable of any willful offence against the laws of this nation.”[358]
About the middle of September the “Reprisal” and the “Lexington” sailed for America; the “Reprisal” foundered on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, losing all on board except the cook; and the “Lexington” was taken by the British off Ushant. With the departure of these vessels the movements of the Continental fleet for 1777 in European waters came to an end; as did also the nice task of the Commissioners of conducting a naval war from a neutral country as a base, without losing the friendship of that country, or involving it in war. Had not hostilities broken out in 1778 between France and England by reason of other causes, a repetition of the naval operations of 1777, if permitted by the French, would very likely have brought them on.
During 1778 two cruises were made in European waters, one by Captain Tucker, and the other by Captain Jones. On April 1, 1778, the frigate “Boston,” Captain Samuel Tucker, arrived at Bordeaux with John Adams, the new Commissioner who was to succeed Silas Deane, as a passenger. After refitting, Tucker made a short cruise in which he captured four prizes. In August the “Boston,” in company with the frigate “Providence,” and the ship “Ranger,” sailed for America. Some months previous the “Ranger,” when under the command of Captain Jones, had made an important cruise. Jones arrived in this vessel in France on December 2, 1777. He expected to receive command of a frigate or a ship of the line; but in this he was disappointed. On January 18, 1778, the Commissioners wrote to him that they could not procure such a ship as he expected; and that they advised him, “after equipping the ‘Ranger,’ in the best manner for the cruise you propose,” to proceed “with her in the manner you shall judge best for distressing the enemies of the United States, by sea or otherwise, consistent with the laws of war and the terms of your commission.”[359]
From these orders it may be seen that Jones had in mind a descent on the British coast. On April 10, 1778, he sailed for the Irish sea. After capturing or destroying four vessels, he made an unsuccessful attempt to burn the shipping at Whitehaven in Cumberland. He next tried to take prisoner the Earl of Selkirk from his summer home at St. Mary’s Isle, off the southwest coast of Scotland, but failed to find him. These movements ashore naturally struck terror to the inhabitants of the British Isles. Jones now crossed to Ireland, and in the neighborhood of Belfast attacked the British naval ship “Drake,” 20, Commander George Burdon. After an engagement of seventy-four minutes, during which the “Ranger” was “skillfully handled and well-fought,” the “Drake” struck her colors. Jones arrived in Brest with his prize on May 10.[360] Many plans and suggestions were now made by both the Commissioners and the French government to supply Jones with some large ship from the French navy, or to give him the command of a small fleet, but they all miscarried. The ambitious and energetic American captain, chafing under his enforced idleness, was not to make another cruise until fifteen months had elapsed.
During 1779 and 1780 the Naval office at Paris was chiefly concerned with the movements, conduct, and achievements of two captains in the Continental navy, John Paul Jones and Peter Landais. Never have the fortunes of war thrown into close association two men of more striking contrasts. Jones was ardent, hopeful, and magnetic; Landais sullen, quarrelsome, and repellent. Jones was a master of men; from unpromising materials, swept together by the winds and waves of diverse fortunes, he made most effective crews. Landais was seldom on good terms with his officers or seamen, some of whom were always dissatisfied and mutinous. Called to play their parts on the same theater of war, the Scotchman achieved signal success and distinction, and won the plaudits of the French king, of Congress, and of his countrymen; while to the Frenchman fell the ill-will of his own government, the hatred of Americans, and, in his dismissal from the navy of the United States, dishonor and professional disgrace.
In the spring of 1779 Franklin—now American minister at the Court of France—the French government, and Lafayette planned an expedition against the coast of England, which had in view especially the striking of some of the larger English towns. Lafayette was to command the French troops which were to be lent for the expedition, and Jones, to whom the French government had, in February, given the command of the “Bon Homme Richard,” formerly the “Duras,” an old East Indiaman, was to command the sea forces. The “Alliance,” Captain Landais, which vessel had recently arrived in France from America, was to be a part of Jones’s fleet. This plan miscarried.
It was not until August 13 that Jones finally got to sea with a fleet consisting of five naval vessels and two privateers. The two chief vessels of the little fleet were the “Bon Homme Richard,” 42, Captain Jones, and the “Alliance,” 36, Captain Landais. These two officers had of course permanent commissions in the Continental navy; the three French officers in command of naval vessels were given temporary commissions in the Continental navy. The expense of the cruise was borne by the French government; and the fitting out of the fleet was superintended by Chaumont, the joint agent of the French government and the American minister.[361] The destination of the fleet was determined by the French government; and the orders of Jones, the commodore of the fleet, were prepared by the French Minister of Marine, translated and signed by Franklin, and sent to Jones by Chaumont. The fleet sailed under the American flag. Its principal object was the intercepting of the Baltic fleet of the enemy.
The details of this memorable cruise are familiar to the reader, and need not be repeated here. The fleet was scarcely at sea before Landais became insubordinate, asserted his independence of Jones, and left and rejoined his commodore when and where he chose. Sailing first along the west coast of Ireland and then around Scotland, Jones reached the east coast of Yorkshire, on September 23. He had by this time taken seventeen ships, and had made an unsuccessful attempt to reach Leith and Edinburgh, and lay them under contribution. Off Flamborough Head Jones’s fleet, which was now reduced to the “Bon Homme Richard,” “Alliance,” and “Pallas,” fell in with the Baltic trade of forty-one sail and convoyed by His Majesty’s ships, “Serapis,” 44, Captain Richard Pearson, and “Countess of Scarborough,” 20, Commander Thomas Piercy. There now ensued an engagement between the “Bon Homme Richard” and the “Serapis,” which lasted more than three hours. It was one of the fiercest fights recorded in the annals of naval warfare. For the greater part of the engagement the two vessels were lashed together, stem to stern, starboard to starboard, and with the muzzles of their guns touching. Both ships were set on fire in various places, and the “scene was dreadful beyond the reach of language,” to use Jones’s phrasing. The “Bon Homme Richard” won the fight only through the brilliant daring, the remarkable naval skill, and the intelligence in action of her commander. She was so badly injured that she sank the second day after the fight; her own crew were transferred to the “Serapis.” The loss to the “Bon Homme Richard” was 116 men; to the “Serapis,” 129. During the fight of the “Bon Homme Richard” and the “Serapis,” the “Pallas,” Captain Cottineau, and the “Countess of Scarborough,” Commander Piercy, engaged each other, with the result that the British ship was compelled to surrender. The “Alliance” took little or no part in the contest, as her commander was sulking throughout the engagement. The two prizes, the “Alliance,” and the “Pallas” arrived at the Texel in Holland on October 3, 1779.[362]
A naval discord now arose, which tried the patience and temper of Franklin. No sooner did Jones and Landais reach the Texel, than each wrote to Franklin making charges against the other. Jones accused Landais of gross insubordination and misbehavior and specifically charged him with intentionally firing into the “Bon Homme Richard” and killing a “number of our men and mortally wounding a good officer.” The French government, which was inclined to attribute the loss of the “Bon Homme Richard” and so many of her crew to the conduct of Landais, took a hand in the dispute, and asked Franklin to call Landais to account at Paris. In cases of this sort the Naval Office had little authority or means to effect discipline in the navy. A sufficient number of commissioned officers could not be assembled in France to hold a court-martial; and if they could, it was doubtful whether the Naval Office had the power to order such a court. Their inability to hold courts-martial had been regretted more than once by the American Commissioners. Landais came to Paris, and Franklin investigated the case before friends of the two disputants; but satisfactory evidence and witnesses could not be obtained to prove or disprove the charges, so Franklin did the only thing possible, by referring the dispute to Congress, and a properly constituted court-martial in America. Franklin thought his inquiry had one good effect, the preventing of a duel in Holland between the two officers.[363]
On the coming of Landais to Paris, Franklin placed Jones in command of the “Alliance.” After cruising through the English Channel to Spain, Jones, in February, 1780, brought his vessel into L’Orient. Acting under Franklin’s orders, Jones now refitted his vessel with the purpose of returning to America with a cargo of supplies. In the spring of 1780 Landais began to beseech Franklin to restore him to the command of the “Alliance,” and he soon raised the question whether the American minister at Paris had the power to remove him from the command of a vessel to which Congress had appointed him. His request was refused by Franklin in bald and vigorous terms. “I think you,” Franklin wrote, “so imprudent, so litigious, and quarrelsome a man, even with your best friends, that peace and good order, and consequently the quiet and regular subordination so necessary to success, are, where you preside, impossible.”[364] Later he charged Landais “not to meddle with the ‘Alliance’ or create any disturbance on board her, as you will answer the contrary at your peril.”[365] About the first of June Jones left his vessel, and came up to Paris to hasten the sale of his prizes. Landais now appeared at L’Orient, raised a mutiny on board the “Alliance,” and, acting on Arthur Lee’s advice, took charge of her. Early in July, without taking the stores which had been assigned to his ship, Landais sailed for America. It was on this passage that he developed a strangeness, a madness, some say, that incapacitated him for his command. He was removed, and the “Alliance” was sailed into Boston in charge of her lieutenant. Landais was now tried by a court-martial and dismissed from the naval service.
Meantime Jones and Franklin had succeeded in obtaining from the French government the loan of the “Ariel.” Having loaded her with supplies, Jones sailed for America on October 7, 1780; but, encountering a storm which dismasted his vessel, he was compelled to return to port. On December 18 he again put to sea; and in February, 1781, he reached Philadelphia.
With the departure of Jones, the European waters, for the first time in four years, were clear of the armed vessels of the Continental fleet. The venerable Franklin, vexed with the discords and details of naval affairs, must have drawn a sigh of relief when the last Continental vessel and captain had withdrawn from France. The most disagreeable of his duties as “Admiral,” to use John Adams’s word in this connection, now came to an end. Concerning his vexations, Franklin wrote to one of his agents in the summer of 1780: “I have been too long in hot water, plagued almost to death with the passions, vagaries, and ill humours, and madnesses of other people. I must have a little repose.”[366] He had now for some time been writing to Congress, asking to be relieved of his naval duties. An example of his requests may be extracted from a letter of March 4, 1780, to the President of Congress: “As vessels of war under my care create me a vast deal of business (of a kind, too, that I am unexperienced in), I must repeat my earnest request that some person of skill in such affairs may be appointed, in the character of consul, to take charge of them. I imagine that much would by that means be saved in the expense of their various refittings and supplies, which to me appears enormous.”[367]
From the beginning of 1781 until the close of the Revolution the duties of the Naval Office at Paris were comparatively light. Few armed vessels were sent from America to France; and those that were, remained only long enough to refit, load with supplies, and receive letters and despatches for America. Over such ships Franklin exercised little or no control. The Agent of Marine, not wishing his vessels to slip from his grasp when within the reach of orders from Paris, sometimes directed his captains who were about to sail for France to return home on a specified date. In May, 1782, he wrote disapprovingly to Congress concerning the “delays and exorbitant expenses which have accrued from the detention of public vessels in Europe.”[368] Acting under the direct orders of Morris, Captain Barry, in the “Alliance,” in February, 1782, left L’Orient and cruised without success for seventeen days. This was the last cruise in European waters which was made by a Continental vessel during the Revolution.
On July 10, 1781, Congress gave Thomas Barclay a commission as vice-consul to France in the place of William Palfrey, who had, in November, 1780, been appointed consul to France, and had gone down with the vessel on which he took passage.[369] In addition to his strictly consular duties, Barclay was authorized to “assist in directing our Naval affairs.”[370] When Barclay entered upon his duties in France, our naval business was narrowing to the settling of accounts. He was in time, however, to represent his country in the trial and sale of a few prizes, to assist in the shipping of some supplies, and to sell the Continental ship, “Duc de Lauzun.” In November, 1782, Congress appointed Barclay a commissioner for settling the Revolutionary accounts of the United States in Europe; and in December Morris gave him his instructions.[371] Barclay was directed to inquire into the accounts of the agents for fitting out armed vessels in Europe, and to make a settlement with the various prize agents into whose hands prizes or moneys derived from their sale had come. Barclay’s duties, both as consul and as commissioner, came to an end in the fall of 1785, when he was appointed to negotiate a treaty with Morocco.
Some of the duties of Barclay as commissioner for settling accounts were in December, 1783, vested in John Paul Jones. In accordance with a resolution of Congress, Franklin appointed Jones agent of the United States to solicit the payment of prize money, “in whose hands soever the money may be detained,” arising from prizes captured by vessels under Jones’s command in European waters.[372] Jones was engaged in this work during 1784 and 1785. Under the sanction of Thomas Jefferson, the American Minister at Paris, Jones in 1786 set out for Copenhagen, to settle a dispute with the Danish Court over three of his prizes. These ships had been captured, in 1779, by the fleet under his command, and had been sent into Bergen, Norway. The Danish government had restored them to the British. Jones’s journey was interrupted and he did not reach Copenhagen until 1788. The Danish government now transferred the settlement of the disputed claims to Paris, pleading that Jones had not sufficient authority to treat. By June, Jones had left Copenhagen, had accepted the commission of Vice-Admiral in the Russian navy, and was writing from his flagship “Wolodimer” to his friend Jefferson at Paris. The Revolutionary accounts in Europe possessed the usual vitality, not to say immortality, of government claims. Certain Revolutionary claims of South Carolina, growing out of expenses which that state incurred in Europe in connection with the ship “Indian,” are now pending before the government at Washington.
In the West Indies the chief naval station for the Continental vessels was St. Pierre, Martinique. Bound on commercial errands, our vessels occasionally visited St. Eustatius, until its capture by the British in February, 1781; Cape Francois, Hispaniola; and in the late years of the war, Havana. The United States had commercial agents at these three ports. But at Martinique our vessels were refitted, repaired, and provisioned whenever convenience suggested, or stress of weather compelled, the seeking of a friendly harbor in this part of the Atlantic. In June, 1776, William Bingham, who had been the secretary of the Committee of Secret Correspondence, went to Martinique as the commercial agent of Congress; and in March, 1780, he was succeeded by Parsons, Alston and Company.
The commercial agent at Martinique did a varied and lively business. He was employed in shipping supplies, obtaining convoys for his merchantmen, refitting privateers, and now and then Continental vessels, disposing of prizes, and forwarding to Congress naval intelligence concerning the West Indies and Europe. Congress at times sent despatches and supplies to France by the way of Martinique; and the American representatives and commercial agents in France, now and then, communicated with the United States through the same island. In October, 1777, Bingham wrote to Congress that, if France should declare war against Great Britain, many prizes would naturally be sent into Martinique, and that he wished to be directed about proper forms and methods for trying and selling them.[373] In December American prizes and privateers were being publicly received into the ports of Martinique, and Bingham was shipping arms to America on board American vessels under the convoy of a frigate which he had hired for that purpose. In January, 1778, the permitting of these favors was causing spirited letters between the “General” of Martinique and the Governor of the British island of Antigua.[374]
During 1779 three Continental vessels, the “Deane,” “General Gates,” and “Confederacy,” put into Martinique to refit, repair, and obtain provisions. The expense to which Bingham’s empty treasury was subjected caused him to complain to Congress. The only Continental armed vessel purchased at Martinique was the little schooner “Fame,” 7 guns. The commercial agent made this purchase on his own responsibility in February, 1781, in order to carry to Philadelphia the news of the capture of St. Eustatius by the British. But unfortunately, the “Fame” was forced to bequeath her errand to a better-fated conveyance, as the British carried her into Antigua.[375]
Our naval affairs on the Mississippi during the Revolution, although conducted on a small scale, are not devoid of interest; nor do they entirely escape the glamour of romance which seems to touch everything connected with the early history of this region. Oliver Pollock, originally a Pennsylvanian, and a man of ability, integrity, and patriotism, who freely spent his private fortune for his country, was the commercial agent at New Orleans during the Revolution, and to him fell sundry naval duties. Pollock was responsible to the Commercial Committee, the third committee of Congress that was simultaneously purchasing and arming vessels. He was intelligently and heartily assisted in his work at New Orleans by the Governor of Louisiana, Galvez, “that worthy Nobleman,” as Pollock called him, who “gave me the delightful assurance that he would go every possible length for the interest of Congress.”[376] It is refreshing to find for once American and Spanish officials acting in concert and inspiring mutual confidence and affection. Early in 1777, immediately after Galvez became governor, he, with slight limitations, opened the port of New Orleans to American vessels of war and their prizes. Galvez’s favors to Americans called down upon him the threats of the British at Pensacola to have his conduct brought to the attention of the Court at Madrid.
Pollock received from Congress blank commissions both for officers in the Continental navy and for privateers. One of the privateers which he commissioned, the “Reprisal,” Captain Calvert, sent into a safe port, in April, 1778, a prize whose cargo consisted of flour, sugar, coffee, and forty-eight slaves.[377] In March, 1778, Captain Willing and a small party of men arrived in New Orleans from Pennsylvania, having come by the way of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. They captured several prizes on the Mississippi, which were sold in New Orleans to the value of $37,500. One of these, the “Rebecca,” Pollock bought for Congress on his own responsibility. He obtained permission from Galvez to fit out his ship in a warlike manner; and he decided upon an armament, consisting of “16 six pounders upon one Deck, 2 Bow and 2 Stern Chacers, 8 four pounders upon her quarter Deck, with Swivels, Cohorns, &c.”[378] He intended to enlist one hundred and fifty men and send his ship against His Majesty’s sloop of war “Sylph,” which was defending Manchac on Lake Pontchartrain. Pollock planned to obtain most of his armament from Havana, but the Spanish authorities refused to permit its shipment even after Galvez had written to the Cuban government.[379]
By July, 1779, Pollock had succeeded in obtaining and mounting twenty-four guns on the decks of his ship, which he had now christened the “Morris” in honor of his well-known friend at Philadelphia. He had appointed a full quota of officers; and he had engaged seventy-six men, with “English deserters arriving daily” to swell the complement. The captain of the “Morris” was William Pickles, a man found to be “capable and steady to our Cause.” Pollock had now for some time been waiting for orders for his vessel from Philadelphia; and tired of delay he was on the point of sending the “Morris” cruising, when a severe hurricane swept over New Orleans doing great damage to the town and its shipping. The “Morris” was lost, and eleven of her crew were drowned; the rest were rescued nine miles below the city clinging to the wreckage of their vessel.
Governor Galvez’s heart was touched by the loss of the Americans. He now “spared” Pollock an armed schooner, which was soon fitted out, and by September Pickles was cruising on Lake Pontchartrain. On September 10 Pickles had a short, but hot, dispute with the British armed sloop “West Florida,” which was forced to surrender, although it lost but four men to Pickles’s eight. Pollock now fitted out the “West Florida,” and sent her cruising on the Lake. On September 21 Pickles captured a small British settlement on the north side of Lake Pontchartrain. He made prisoners of all the inhabitants who refused to swear allegiance to the United States. This capitulation, Pollock wrote to Congress, gave them an undoubted right to that part of the colony of West Florida which lay along Lake Pontchartrain; and he conceived, in language that sounds familiarly like that of later expansionists, that the capitulation was “a proper Ground on which to claim (at any convenient period) the Sovereignty of the Soil and the Allegiance of the Inhabitants.”[380]
In October, 1779, the “West Florida” cruised on the Lake at the request of Galvez for the protection of trade. Letters from Philadelphia now made it evident to Pollock that Congress wished the naval force on the Mississippi to proceed to that town. He therefore on January 20, 1780, gave Pickles orders to sail for Philadelphia after taking on a cargo of tafia and sugar at Havana; but he directed Pickles, before entering on this detail, to join the fleet of Galvez and to assist in the reduction of Mobile and Pensacola.[381] This was an undertaking which Pollock had long assigned to an American fleet and army; and since 1777 he had urged it most audaciously upon Congress. After aiding in the capture of Mobile and taking a small prize which she sent into that town, the “West Florida” proceeded to Philadelphia, where she arrived about the first of June, 1780. Since it appeared to a committee of Congress that the “West Florida” was not fit for a cruiser, she was sold, and her crew was assigned to other Continental vessels.[382] Captain Pickles was placed in command of the “Mercury” packet and detailed to take Henry Laurens to Amsterdam. Here ends the story of the Revolutionary navy on the Mississippi.