[131] Journals of Continental Congress, June 14, 1777.

[132] Journals of Continental Congress, June 14, 1777. Marine Committee Letter Book, Committee to Navy Board at Boston, March 6, 1778.

[133] Publications of Rhode Island Historical Society, VIII, 208, Instructions of Marine Committee to the Eastern Navy Board, July 10, 1777.

[134] Journals of Continental Congress, December 30, 1777. The occasion of this grant of power by Congress was a letter complaining of “disrespect and ill treatment” which a member of the Navy Board of the Middle Department had received at the hands of John Barry, commander of the frigate “Effingham.”

[135] Journals of Continental Congress, October 23, 1777.

[136] Records and papers of Continental Congress, 37, p. 217.

[137] Records and papers of Continental Congress, 37, p. 273.

[138] Journals of Continental Congress, August 4, 1778.

[139] In the transmission of foreign mail the Navy Board at Boston acted as the agent of the Committee of Foreign Affairs. It both purchased and hired packet boats.

[140] Marine Committee Letter Book Committee to Navy Board at Boston, July 11, 1777; November 16, 1778.

[141] Sherburne, Life of John Paul Jones, ed. 1851, 30. Copies of the regulations on uniforms will be found in John Paul Jones manuscripts, Library of Congress.

[142] Clowes, Royal Navy, III, 347-50; IV, 182.

[143] Force, American Archives, 5th, II, 315.

[144] Journals of Continental Congress, September, 17, 1779.

[145] Ibid., December 7, 1778.

[146] Ibid., July 11, 1776.

[147] Ibid., June 16, 1778.

[148] Journals of Continental Congress, July 23, 24, 1777.

[149] Ibid., February 24, 1779.

[150] Ibid., August 7, 1776.

[151] Ibid., September 14, 23, 1778. The Marine Committee reported and Congress agreed that “the eastern navy board be directed to supply 400 dollars annually, in quarterly payments, for the support of Captain Skimmer’s widow and nine youngest children, and that this provision be continued three years.” This is the first instance of the granting by the United States of a pension to the family of a naval officer upon his death.

[152] Journals of Continental Congress, March 13, March 28, April 3, April 14, 1776.

[153] Ibid., November 20, 1776.

[154] Journals of Continental Congress, January 23, March 15, 1777.

[155] Ibid., July 25, 1777.

[156] Journals of Continental Congress, June 25, October 10, 1776; Scribner’s Magazine, XXIV, 29, Mahan, John Paul Jones in the Revolution, quotes a member of Congress writing to Jones probably in the fall of 1776: “You would be surprised to hear what a vast number of applications are continually making for officers of the new frigates, especially for the command.”

[157] Jones made a copy of the list of captains of the navy arranged in accordance with their respective ranks, upon which copy he commented: “Whereby No. 18 is superseded by ... 13 [men] ... altho their superior Merits and Abilities are at best Presumptive, and not one of them was in the service the 7th day of December, 1775, when No. 18 was appointed Senior Lieut of the Navy.”—Jones Manuscripts, Library of Congress.

[158] Nicholson, while at times displaying conspicuous bravery, was less fortunate in his naval service than Hopkins. Two frigates under his command were at different times captured by the enemy. On May 1, 1777, Congress suspended him from his command, “until he shall have made such satisfaction as shall be accepted by the executive powers of the state of Maryland, for the disrespectful and contemptuous letter written by him to the governor of that state.”—Journals of Continental Congress, May 1, 1777.

[159] Journals of Continental Congress, November 15, 1776.

[160] Journals of Continental Congress, March 23, 1776.

[161] Ibid., October 30, 1776.

[162] Journals of Continental Congress, April 2, April 3, 1776.

[163] Ibid., November 15, 1776.

[164] Ibid., July 25, 1777.

[165] Journals of Continental Congress, January 19, March 20, 1778.

[166] Ibid., November 14, 1778.

[167] See Chapter I, page 46.

[168] Journals of Continental Congress, August 26, 1776. This law applied to both the army and the navy.

[169] Journals of Continental Congress, September 25, 1778.

[170] Harvard Historical Studies, X, L. C. Hatch, Administration of American Revolutionary Army, Chapter V, Pay and Half-pay.

[171] See Chapter I, page 45.

[172] Journals of Continental Congress, May 6, 1778.

[173] Journals of Continental Congress, August 19, 1778.

[174] Journals of Continental Congress, July 11, 1776.

[175] Edward Field’s Esek Hopkins, 154-56, quotes words of Hopkins in his own defence. Washington feared the plan of the Naval Committee would fail as the enemy must know it, so long had the fleet been fitting for sea.—Ford, Writings of Washington, III, 319.

[176] Journals of Continental Congress, August 12, 15, and 16, 1776.

[177] Quoted in Field’s Esek Hopkins, 158.

[178] Edward Field’s Esek Hopkins, Chapter VI, Conspiracy and Dismissal, contains many original documents.

[179] Journals of Continental Congress, March 25, March 26, 1777.

[180] Ibid., January 2, 1778.

[181] Journals of Continental Congress, July 30, 1778.

[182] Edward Field’s Esek Hopkins, 237-38.

[183] Marine Committee Letter Book, Committee to Count D’Estaing, July 12, July 17, 1778.

[184] Journals of Continental Congress, July 23, September 24, October 27, November 4, 1778; January 21, June 7, 22, 23, July 30, August 2, 1779.