American navy. The next year there was another armed vessel in these waters, a brig, named Gaspee, but no mention has ever been made of her. The officers of the navy were greatly incensed at the act of rebellion on the part of Rhode Islanders, and that the Gaspee might not be forgotten, they gave her name to a vessel which had recently been brought into the service-a brig, commanded by Captain William Hunter. The evidence that there was such a brig is found in Captain Hunter's demands for provision. One of these demands is quite lengthy and I will only give a copy of the shortest.

GASPEE, RHODE ISLAND, 6th Oct. 1773. SIR. Let the bearer have three hundred or four hundred weight of bread, for the use of his Majesty's brig under my command Yours, WILLIAM HUNTER.

There are three of these demands, one as above, one dated August 13, and one December 4, 1773. The latter calls for 2190 lbs. bread, 2160 gals. beer, 221 picces of beef, 330 pieces of pork, 7 bush. pease, and 296 lbs. butter and cheese; all of which articles were delivered on board said brig Gaspee, as appears by the agent's acknowledgment before Martin Howard, Justice of the Peace.

The snow Cruizer, Captain Tyringham Howe, the ships Mercury, Captain Robert Kuley, Arethusa, Captain Andrew 'Snape Hamond, and Lizard, Captain Charles Inglis, sloop of war Swan, Captain James Ayscough, brig Gaspee, as above, and schooners Halifax, Captain Abraham Crespin, and Magdalin, Captain Henry Colins, were all here in 1773. To these vessels, between the 11th of February and the 10th of the following April, provisions were supplied in these quantities: Bread 76112 pounds; flour, 2622 pounds; beef, 2160 pieces; pork, 3300 pieces; pease, 152 bushels; oatmeal 147 bushels; Indian meal 216 bushels; butter, 6413 pounds; cheese, 280 pounds; vinegar, 192 gallons. From the 21st of September to the 4th of December, the Cruiser, Gaspee and Magdalin had the following articles served out to them; bread, 8597 pounds; flour, 1112 pounds; beer, 7560 gallons; beef, 336

pieces; pork, 990 pieces; pease, 28 bushels; oatmeal, 22 bushels; butter, 1047 pounds. The bread was divided very equally between these three vessels, although they were by no means of the same size. The Mercury and Lizard were twentyeight gun frigates-the size of the Maidstone.

The Mercury left Rhode Island in August and arrived in Boston on the 15th of that month. Brymer at this time wrote to Newport; "There is no talk of any vessel being sent in the room of the Mercury, but the Kingfisher is to relieve the Swan and the Cruizer, who will soon be ordered to Halifax to char." While cruising off Brest, in 1758, the Lizard fell in with the French corvettes Heroine and Duc d'Hanovre; the former escaped, but the latter, a vessel of fourteen guns, was captured. The Arethusa was a thirty-two gun frigate. In 1778, she fought the Belle Poule, a forty gun ship, close in under the French shore, when the latter vessel, working her way into a small bay, was towed into a place of safety. The same year the Maidstone, already referred to, then under command of Captain Gardner, closed with the French frigate Lion, off the Chesapeake, and after a severe fight of more than an hour, in which the Maidstone was a good deal cut up, the Lion struck her colors.

In 1774, there were but few ships of war in Newport Harbor, but even these were a continued source of trouble to Brymer and his agents. The question of the difference in exchange was again agitated. To the demands of this kind made upon him, Brymer wrote: "There can be no cavil about the Purser's necessary bills, as Mr. Grant's letter explains that they are to be paid at the current exchange, Lord Colville approves it, and the commissioners confirm Lord Colville's approbation." This was April 11, 1774. October 20th of that year he wrote: The Rose, a twenty gun ship, winters with you and has sailed for your port. She is victualed till the last of December." It has been stated that the Rose was here earlier as early as 1770-and in an imperfect list of vessels on this station at that time her name appears. In the past

there has been but little that could be relied upon under this head, and what we have known has been gleaned, little by little, from the scanty materials within reach of the historian. It is not surprising that there has been some confusion in dates, or that the names of vessels, in some instances, have not been preserved to us. It is stated, as above, that the Rose sailed for Newport in October, 1774, and on the 12th of December, I find her name first mentioned in the books of the agent, where a demand of the Purser for necessary money is entered. From this date, up to the time when all intercourse between the ships and the shore was brought to a close, her name frequently appears. In these papers there are a score of documents, demands and receipts, signed by Captain James Wallace. Wallace was in command of this ship during the whole time that she was on this station, but in 1780 he was in command of the Nonesuch, a sixty-four gun frigate, in which vessel he chased a French fleet, under convoy of three frigates, and succeeded in capturing one of the latter-the Belle Poule, mounting thirty-two carriage guns. This was off Belle Isle.

In 1775 the ships here were the Rose, Captain James Wallace; Glasgow, Tyringham Howe (commander of the snow Cruizer in 1773), and Hind, Robert Boyle Nickols, lieutenant commander in the absence of the captain; sloop of war Swan, Captain James Ayscough; and schooners Hope and Diana, The Rose carried two hundred men, but at times that number was reduced to one hundred and thirty. The complement of the Glasgow was one hundred and thirty men, and of the Hind one hundred and sixty-five. There was great difficulty in getting crews on this station, and possibly the above figures are below the proper standard, but they represent the number of men who were provided for by the victualing agent.

As the times became more and more unsettled, and the breach between the two countries grew wider, there was less and less willingness to have anything to do with the ships; and it has been stated that so early as 1764, the agent was interfered with by the people-"was seized and forcibly pre

vented from supplying the ship"-the Maidstone. Of this I can find no evidence. If anything of the kind had taken place there would certainly have been some reference to it—some allusion to so unpleasant a circumstance-in the letters, if not in the books, of the agent. But nothing of the kind can be found in his frequent letters to and from Brymer. The whole thing, probably, grew out of a statement in a letter from Captain Antrobus to Governor Ward, to which the latter replied:

"Of the other tumultuous proceedings mentioned in the close of your letter, I can recollect nothing at present, except your representation of Mr. Champlin's being surrounded by a mob, &c., upon which I must observe that if that gentleman had been insulted and forcibly prevented from supplying the King's ships with provisions, and had made application to me on the occasion, I should have immediately have given him all necessary aid, protection and assistance; but as he never made. any complaint to me; I conclude that he has received no injury, and that the behaviour of the persons concerned in the matter proceeded wholly from the resentment which they conceived, on the inhabitants of the town being impressed and detained on board the Maidstone, and not from any real design of distressing any of his Majesty's servants; and the uninterrupted manner in which the ship has been since supplied, confirms me in the sentiment I then entertained of the matter."

That there was in 1774 a growing determination to have nothing to do with the ships, though it had not then taken shape, may be gathered from a letter of Captain Wallace to Admiral Graves, written December 12, immediately after his arrival. In this letter he gives an account of the seizure of the guns of Fort Island by the inhabitants, and his subsequent interview with the Governor.

"I then mentioned, if in the course of carrying on the King's service here I should ask assistance, whether I might expect it from him, or any others in the Government. He answered, as to himself he had no power, and in respect to any other part of the Government, I should meet with nothing but opposition and difficulty. So much for Governor Wanton."

The agent, himself, found it necessary to send in his resignation the next year, not for the above reason, but for others' that were quite as potent:

"The impossibility of negotiating bills here in a short time, the total stopping of trade, with every resource for obtaining provisions from the neighboring colonies being cut off, it puts it out of my power to support the contract any longer, for want of ready money, &c., &c., therefore must require you will, as soon as possible, fall upon some expedient to exonerate me from the discharge of the same. Should our next news from London carry with it the appearance of no accommodation, bills could not be negotiated here for any discount; nay, am doubtful if could raise money on them at 10 per cent, and most people of means would quit the town, as many have."

This was dated August 1, 1775.

The people had now reached a point where forbearance ceased to be a virtue, and they utterly refused to allow the ships to be provisioned longer. The consequence was, all the market boats and coasting vessels coming into the harbor with produce, were intercepted and robbed of everything on board. And to make the position of the inhabitants still more trying, Wallace threatened to turn his guns on the town. In this dilemma recourse was had to the General Assembly, which body was asked to sanction the supplying the ships with provisions, to save the place from destruction. The prayer was granted, with the understanding that the supplies were to be furnished by only one person, and Wallace was to keep his men on board ship. This was on the 16th of November, and the next day the following permit was given:

HEADQUARTERS, MIDDLETOWN, 17th Nov'r, 1775. "GENTLEMEN. I have just received a copy of your letter to Capt. Wallace and his to you, bearing date ye 16th instant, and also your request of this day that ye said Wallace may have delivered to him seventeen barrels of pork and five ditto of Calivance, now in store of Mr. Christopher Champlın.

"You have my permission under ye care and direction of Sam'l Dyre Esq. to deliver to Capt. Wallace ye above seventeen barrels of pork and five ditto of Calivance.

Signed, ESECK HOPKINS, B. Gen'l. To ye Worshipful Town Con'l

of Newport."

The above is a true copy of a paragraph of a letter from Eseck Hopkins Esq. to ye Town Council of Newport.

Witness my hand, Newp't, November 17th, 1775.

WM. CODDINGTON, Council Clerk.