The rules and regulations of the Pennsylvania navy were concerned with little else than the establishing of a penal code. All penal offenses were to be tried by a court-martial, which, in capital cases, was to consist of fifteen naval officers; and in all other cases, of five officers, unless so many could not be assembled, when it might consist of three. A majority of the court was sufficient to convict, except in capital cases, where two-thirds were necessary. In returning a verdict, the officers of lowest rank voted first. Except in cases of mutiny, or of cowardice in time of action, all sentences of death needed the approval of the General Assembly, or, in its recess, of the Committee of Safety. Besides the death penalty, a court-martial could inflict no punishment other than “degrading, cashiering, drumming out of the fleet, whipping, not exceeding thirty-nine lashes, fine, not exceeding two months’ pay, and imprisonment, not exceeding one month.” All fines were to go to the relief of those maimed and disabled in the service, or to the widows and families of such as should be killed. These rules, apparently, were not influenced by those of the Continental navy prepared by John Adams.[472]
On November 7, 1775, the Committee of Safety decided to build a ship for the service on the Delaware, which would mount twenty 18-pounders; and it appointed six of its members, among whom were Robert Morris and John Nixon, a committee to build and arm the vessel. This committee estimated that £9,000 would be necessary to construct the ship. Later, owing to the unfitness of the season for shipbuilding, it was authorized to purchase a vessel.[473] By April, 1776, it had obtained and equipped the ship “Montgomery,” and Thomas Read had been given command of it. A number of small and unimportant craft were gradually added to the navy. On December 28, 1775, Captain John Hazelwood was appointed commander of ten fire-rafts. These rafts were thirty-five feet long and thirteen feet wide, were loaded with oil barrels, rosin casks, turpentine, brimstone, and various other inflammables, and were designed to float down stream and set fire to the enemy’s ships through direct contact.[474] An inventory of the navy, dated August 1, 1776, shows the following vessels and men: the ship “Montgomery,” 138 men; the floating battery “Arnold,” 82 men; thirteen galleys, 35 men each; six guard boats, 12 men each; six small vessels, including fire-ships, a total of 27 men. The total number of officers, seamen, and marines was 768; the Pennsylvania land forces at this time amounted to 1,365 men.[475] In August, 1776, the schooner “Delaware” and the brig “Convention” were added; and in the fall the “Putnam” floating battery.
I have found no mention of the uniform of the officers of the Pennsylvania navy. The uniform of the Pennsylvania marines was “a brown coat faced with green, letters 1. P. B. on the buttons, and a cocked hat.” In October, 1776, the flag for the naval vessels had not been provided. The following memorandum, taken from the minutes of the Pennsylvania Navy Board of May 29, 1777, shows that flags had then been procured: “An Order on William Webb to Elizabeth Ross, for fourteen pounds twelve shillings and two pence, for Making Ships’ Colours etc.”[476]
The Committee of Safety was assisted and directed in its naval work by committees of its own members, of which the principal ones are as follows: “ship committee,” “armed boat committee,” “committee for fitting out two of the armed boats,” “committee for building two galleys for the Bay Service,” and “committee for fitting out four guard boats to cruise at Cape May.” The Committee of Safety was composed of twenty-five members, any seven of whom formed a quorum. Benjamin Franklin was its first president. Robert Morris was for a time its vice-president. In the absence of Franklin, Morris or John Nixon often presided. On July 23, 1776, the Pennsylvania Convention appointed a Council of Safety to succeed the Committee of Safety, a succession which involved merely a change of personnel and of name. From July 24, 1776, until March 4, 1777, when the Supreme Executive Council, the executive under the first state constitution, assumed control, the administration of the Pennsylvania navy was vested in the Council of Safety.
Much difficulty was experienced by the several Pennsylvania executives in finding suitable commodores for the fleet. The office on October 23, 1775, first fell to Thomas Read. On January 13, 1776, Thomas Caldwell was made commodore; and on March 6, 1776, Read was formally placed second in command. Failing in health, Caldwell, on May 25, resigned, and on June 15 the Committee of Safety appointed Samuel Davidson. This succession met with serious and continued opposition on the part of the officers of the navy. They declared that the appointment of Davidson violated the rule of promotion according to seniority in service; and they made vigorous remonstrances, which received countenance and support from men of influence in Philadelphia. So serious was the clamor and insubordination, that the Committee of Safety was compelled to yield to the demands of a resolution of the Provincial Conference of Committees, and remove Davidson from the command of all the vessels except the ship “Montgomery” and the “Arnold” floating battery. The Committee, however, in an “Address to the Inhabitants of Pennsylvania,” upheld the propriety and justice of their appointment; and it declared that by the support which the dissatisfied officers had received “mutiny was justified and abetted and disobedience triumphed over Authority.”[477]
When the Council of Safety assumed control of the navy on July 24, 1776, it found the spirit of dissatisfaction and insubordination so strong among the naval officers that it removed Davidson from the navy; at the same time, however, it declared that the charges made against him were frivolous.[478] On September 2, 1776, the Council of Safety gave Samuel Mifflin an opportunity to decline the office of commodore. Thomas Seymour was named for the place on September 26, 1776. Early in 1777 Captain John Hazelwood, “Commander-in-Chief of the Fire Vessels, Boats and Rafts belonging to the State,” objected to being subject to the orders of Commodore Seymour, who was an old man, infirm, and incapacitated for his position. On September 6, 1777, when Philadelphia was threatened by the British, Seymour was discharged, and Hazelwood was appointed in his place.[479] Hazelwood was the sixth commodore within less than two years.
The Committee of Safety and the Council of Safety passed a number of resolutions fixing the naval pay. For a time the officers on board the ship “Montgomery” and the two floating batteries were generally paid larger wages than those on board the galleys. On February 22, 1777, the Council of Safety adopted a new pay-table, which gave the same salary to officers of the same rank, on whatever vessel employed. The monthly wages of the leading officers were as follows: commodore, $75; captains, $48; first lieutenants, $30; second lieutenants, $20; and surgeons, $48. Seamen were paid $12 a month. A bounty of $12 was now given to recruits.[480] On June 25, 1777, the salary of the commodore was raised to $125 a month.[481] On February 4, 1776, the Committee of Safety gave captors two-thirds of the proceeds of the prizes taken on the Delaware river, and reserved the remaining one-third for the maintenance of disabled sailors and the widows and families of those who should be killed.[482]
Recognizing the navy’s need of a permanent body of administrators, the Council of Safety on February 13, 1777, appointed a Navy Board of six members who were authorized to take under their care all the vessels of the navy. On February 19 four additional members were added.[483] On March 13, 1777, the Supreme Executive Council, which on March 4 had become the executive of the state, reconstituted the naval board. It was now to consist of eleven members, any three of whom formed a quorum. It was given “full power and authority to do and perform all Matters and things Relating to the Navy of this State, subject nevertheless to the directions and examinations of the Council, from time to time, as we may judge expedient, and saving to ourselves always the power of appointing officers.” William Bradford and Joseph Blewer, who each served for a time as chairman of the Board, were its most useful members. On the same day, March 13, the Supreme Executive Council constituted a Board of War.[484]
The work of the Navy Board consisted of a great variety of details relating to provisioning, arming, equipping, officering, and manning the numerous craft of the navy. Soon after entering into office it reported to the Council that it found the armed boats needing repairs and alterations, and that owing to the better wages paid to the seamen on board privateers there was a shameful deficiency in the armed boats’ complement of men. The Board recommended the laying of an embargo to prevent the sailing of private ships until the navy should be recruited. It found that additional officers were needed.[485] The Council immediately ordered the Board to appoint the requisite number of warrant officers and to recommend proper commissioned officers.
During 1777 the naval business of Pennsylvania was large and complicated. A list of stores issued to the navy for one month during the year contains the names of fifty-one vessels. Many of these are minor and unimportant craft, such as half-galleys, fire-ships, and accommodation sloops. A return of the Naval Department on February 1, 1777, shows 71 commissioned officers, 2 staff officers, 123 non-commissioned officers, and 513 privates; total officers and men in the navy, 709. Many men who enlisted in the navy had little or no experience at sea. The amount of the pay rolls for May, 1777, was £6,325.[486]