Robert Treat Paine Papers, Volume 3
I have received your Favor of the 8th Instant.1 I had been Informed you were very sick but am hopes, as you say nothing about it in your Letter, that you have recover’d your Health, which God long preserve. Am sorry there is no better prospect of speedily obtaining Cannon for the Frigates. Pray hurry them along as fast as possible. The 24 Gun Frigate waits only for her Guns & orders for Enlisting the men. It is a great pity she is not at sea. It is highly probable she might by this time have taken prizes sufficient to have defreyed the Costs of Building her. The other Frigate might be ready for sea in a Month if her Guns were here. Capt. Manly is quite Impatient. I am hopes of getting sufficient for the 24 Gun Frigate as the Council have Voted to Lend the Continent a sufficient Number for that Ship untill they can be obtained from Philadelphia if the Committee for fortifying the Harbor of Boston think they can be possibly spared from those in & about Boston.2 The Committee are now Examining into this matter & will do all in their power to accomodate me. I have no prospect of getting any Cannon from Providence for some time. Their Hearth has broke lately & retarded their works. They have not as yet cast more than sufficient for one of their Frigates. Salt Petre making goes on Briskly. We are dayly paying Money 268out of our Treasury for that Article. We have so much of it on hand that we shall not be able to turn what the Continent sent us into powder this twelve months. The Powder we make, I am Informed is very good and of sufficient strength. Pray send me a Copy of the Confederation when finished and also a printed Copy of the resolves of Congress as far as the printer has gone. We stand in great need of them. Pray let me hear from you frequently & particularly. Our Privateers are very successfull. We have sugar & Cotton in plenty. I conclude with great respect Your Freind & humble Servt.,
P.S. You have not as yet Informed me whether there is any agent like to be appointed to take care of & supply the Continental ships with what they want from time to time; There is an agent appointed for Prizes but none as yet for the ships. This is a different department.
Not located.
Capt. John Manley commanded the 32–gun Continental Navy frigate Hancock, and Capt. Hector McNeill, the 24–gun Boston. Both ships were built at Newburyport, Mass., during the spring of 1776 with Thomas Cushing as agent. Both ships ran into problems of supply and enlistment, and it was not until Oct. 23, 1776, that their captains, along with Capt. Thomas Thompson of the frigate Raleigh, received their sailing orders from the Continental Marine Committee (Naval Documents of the American Revolution, 6:1126, 1385).