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Force, American Archives, 5th, I, 1186, 1277; Journals of New York Provincial Congress, March 16, 1776; Journals of Continental Congress, May 2, 1776.

Journals of Continental Congress, May 22, May 25, June 17, 1776; Ford, Writings of Washington, IV, 101.

Force, American Archives, 4th, VI, 1107-08.

Ibid., 5th, I, 1186-87.

Force, American Archives, 5th, II, 186.

Ibid., I, 563.

Force, American Archives, 5th, II, 1039. One galley which was fitting at Ticonderoga is not included in the above list. The exact number of men in Arnold's fleet is uncertain.

Ibid., 481, 834.

Force, American Archives, 5th, II, 1079-80; Almon's Remembrancer, 1777, 356.

THE ORGANIZATION OF THE MARINE COMMITTEE

In the years immediately preceding the Revolution the four New England colonies were largely engaged in shipbuilding, fishing, whaling, and commerce. The forests of Maine and New Hampshire afforded incomparable oaks and white pines for ships. Indeed, not a few of these trees were sealed for the use of the Royal Navy, and their high quality authenticated, by the mark of the "King's broad arrow." New England's hardy dwellers on the seacoast had long engaged in fishing on the Newfoundland banks, or in whaling in many seas, and had bred a race of sailors. The Atlantic withheld few secrets from the bold Yankee skippers. They were equally at home in the coastwise navigation, reaching from Nova Scotia to Florida, in deep-sea voyages to the motherland or the Continent, in skirting the Guinea coast in quest of its dark-skinned trade, or in slipping down the trade winds with canvas set for the sunny sugar islands of the West Indies or the Spanish Main. In no other section of the revolting colonies was the first formal movement for the building of a Continental navy so likely to be made as in New England. Here were ships, sailors, and a knowledge of the sea.

Certainly not a whit behind the other three New England states in nautical interests was little sea-cleft Rhode Island. In the establishing of state navies she had moved first, and on June 15, 1775, had put two vessels in commission. On the same day her Commodore Whipple captured an armed tender of the British frigate "Rose"--the first authorized capture made by the Americans at sea during the Revolution. Already her coasts and her trade were being annoyed by the enemy. It was then in keeping with her maritime character, with her forwardness in naval enterprise, and with her needs for defence, that her Assembly should have instructed her two delegates to the Continental Congress, on August 26, 1775, "to use their whole influence, at the ensuing Congress, for building at the Continental expense, a Fleet of sufficient force for the protection of these Colonies, and for employing them in such manner and places as will most effectually annoy our enemies, and contribute to the common defence of these Colonies." The Assembly was persuaded that an American fleet "would greatly and essentially conduce to the preservation of the lives, liberty, and property of the good people of these Colonies."

The naval situation in Congress during the fall of 1775 and the winter of 1775-76 should be clearly understood. The debates and legislation of Congress concerning naval affairs are attached, as it were, to two threads. One thread, beginning with the appointment of a committee, on October 5, 1775, to prepare a plan for intercepting two British transports, has already been unraveled. The other, which had its origin in the introduction in Congress of the Rhode Island instructions, will now be followed.

The delegates of Rhode Island to the Congress in the fall of 1775 were two sterling patriots, Samuel Ward and Stephen Hopkins. Each had been governor of Rhode Island, and each had grown old in the public service. Once bitter political rivals, they were now yoked together in the common cause of their state and country. On October 3, 1775, one of the Rhode Island delegates, presumably Samuel Ward, laid before Congress the instructions of his state in behalf of a Continental fleet. On this day the consideration of the instructions went over until the 6th, and on the 6th until the 7th.

When the Rhode Island instructions came up on October 7, a debate ensued, a synopsis of which has been left us by John Adams. The discussion was participated in by Robert Treat Paine, Samuel Adams, and John Adams of Massachusetts, John Rutledge and Christopher Gadsden of South Carolina, Samuel Chase of Maryland, Stephen Hopkins of Rhode Island, Dr. John J. Zubly of Georgia, Eliphalet Dyer and Silas Deane of Connecticut, and Peyton Randolph of Virginia. When the debate took place, the consideration of the Rhode Island instructions had been postponed until the 16th, and the motion before the Congress was to appoint a committee "to consider the whole subject."

The establishing of a navy naturally found least favor among the members coming from the agricultural South, and most support from those of maritime New England. Chase, of Maryland, declared, "It is the maddest idea in the world to think of building an American fleet; its latitude is wonderful; we should mortgage the whole continent." He added, however: "We should provide, for gaining intelligence, two swift sailing vessels." Zubly, of Georgia, said: "If the plans of some gentlemen are to take place, an American fleet must be a part of it, extravagant as it is." Gadsden, of South Carolina, temperately favored the procuring of armed vessels, thinking that it was "absolutely necessary that some plan of defence, by sea, should be adopted." He was opposed to the "extensiveness of the Rhode Island plan," although he thought that it should be considered. The friends of the navy acted on the defensive. They probably realized that their cause might well bide its time. Its opponents, to use John Adams's phrase, were "lightly skirmishing." In the end the motion was lost, and consideration of the instructions was deferred until the 16th.

On October 16, and again on November 16, the Rhode Island instructions were postponed. Samuel Ward had hopes for a favorable action on the latter day. On November 16 he wrote from Philadelphia to his brother in Rhode Island: "Our instruction for an American fleet has been long upon the table. When it was first presented, it was looked upon as perfectly chimerical; but gentlemen now consider it in a very different light. It is this day to be taken into consideration, and I have great hopes of carrying it. Dr. Franklin, Colonel Lee, the two Adamses, and many others, will support it. If it succeeds, I shall remember your ideas of our building two of the ships."

The several postponements of the Rhode Island instructions make it clear that Congress was slow to reach the conclusion that the "building of a fleet" was desirable or feasible. It was one thing to fit out a few small vessels for intercepting British transports, and quite another to build a fleet of frigates. It is not surprising that under the circumstances Congress hesitated to embark on the larger undertaking. The difference in the presentation to Congress of the two propositions, both of which involved the procuring of a naval armament, is worthy of note, for it had its influence on legislation. The appointment of a committee to prepare a plan for intercepting transports, put the question in a softened, more veiled, and less direct form. It pointed the wedge of naval legislation by a tactful presentation, and drove it home with an exigency.

On December 14 a committee consisting of one member from each colony was chosen by ballot to take charge of the building and fitting out of these vessels. The members chosen with their states were as follows: Josiah Bartlett, New Hampshire; John Hancock, Massachusetts; Stephen Hopkins, Rhode Island; Silas Deane, Connecticut; Francis Lewis, New York; Stephen Crane, New Jersey; Robert Morris, Pennsylvania; George Read, Delaware; Samuel Chase, Maryland; R. H. Lee, Virginia; Joseph Hewes, North Carolina; Christopher Gadsden, South Carolina; John Houston, Georgia. This committee was substantially the same as that which reported the naval increase on the 13th; the only changes were in the members from Massachusetts and Maryland, and in the addition of a member from Georgia. The committee was a very able one, comprising several of the foremost men of the Revolution. Hancock, Morris, Hopkins, and Hewes were especially interested in naval and maritime affairs. The absence of the name of John Adams is probably accounted for by his return home early in December.

This new committee was soon designated as the Marine Committee, by which name it was referred to throughout the Revolution. Larger, and, with its engrossing work of building and fitting out the thirteen frigates, more active than the Naval Committee, it soon overshadowed and finally absorbed its colleague. This absorption was facilitated no doubt by the fact that the four members of the Naval Committee remaining in January, 1776, also belonged to the new committee. With the exception of the rendering of its accounts, the duties of the Naval Committee came to an end with the sailing of Hopkins's fleet in February, 1776. The Marine Committee now acquired a firm grasp of the naval business of the colonies, and from this time until December, 1779, it was the recognized and responsible head of the Naval Department, and as such, during the period that saw the rise and partial decline of the Continental navy, its history is of prime importance.

The Marine Committee like the Naval Committee had at Philadelphia an office of its own, and held its sessions in the evening. Its officers consisted of a chairman or president, a vice-president, and a secretary. Its clerical force comprised one or more clerks. On June 6, 1777, Congress resolved that five of its members--which number thereafter constituted a quorum--should form a "board" for the transaction of business. Each of the thirteen states had one member on the Committee. Rarely did more than one-half of the Committee's members attend its sessions. Its personnel was continually changing. This was necessitated in part by a similar change in the membership of Congress; as the old members retired, the new ones filled their places. The members of the Marine Committee received no pay for their naval services as such. Each state of course paid its member of the Committee for his services as a delegate to the Continental Congress. The wages of the secretary of the Committee and of its clerical force varied. On June 16, 1778, the Committee was permitted to raise the wages of its clerks to 0 a month. The secretary was paid at the rate of ,000 a year after November 2, 1778. During 1778 and 1779 Congress was raising the salaries of its executive employees because of the depreciation of the currency.

The most responsible duties of the Committee naturally fell to the four or five members oldest in its service. From this class it drew its chairmen. Three out of the five men who are known to have filled this office were on the first list of the Committee's members. During possibly all of 1776, and for a part of 1777, courtly John Hancock presided over the Marine Committee, while at the same time he dignified the chair of the President of Congress. In December, 1777, Henry Laurens of South Carolina had succeeded to both of Hancock's positions. In 1778 and 1779 the mantles of the first leaders in naval administration, whether they exactly fitted or not, were worn by Richard Henry Lee, "one of the fine fellows from Virginia"; Samuel Adams of Massachusetts; and William Whipple of New Hampshire. Lee was chairman in the summer of 1778. Probably before December of that year, certainly by that time, Adams had succeeded him. Adams in turn yielded in June, 1779, to Whipple, who continued to fill the office until the Committee was superseded by a Board of Admiralty in December, 1779.

There were other members besides the chairmen upon whose shoulders rested the burden of the naval business. Morris, Hewes, and Hopkins have been previously mentioned as members who were deeply interested in naval affairs. Morris was for a time vice-president of the Committee. During the winter of 1776-77, while Congress was at Baltimore, he remained in Philadelphia, and, for a time, practically without assistance from the Committee, administered the naval affairs of the colonies. William Ellery of Rhode Island, who on October 13, 1776, succeeded Hopkins, showed zeal in the business of the navy. The work of Francis Lewis of New York deserves mention. No doubt there were other members whose naval services were considerable. Unfortunately, time has been careless with many of the records of the Marine Committee.

In carrying out the resolutions of Congress of December 13, 1775, authorizing the building of thirteen frigates, the Marine Committee employed agents to superintend the work. These agents, who were variously designated, were residents of the colonies in which they were employed, and their selection was usually determined by local advice and influence. The New Hampshire frigate, the "Raleigh," 32, was built at Portsmouth under the direction of John Langdon, formerly a member of the Naval Committee, but now Continental agent at Portsmouth. He employed three master-builders, who completed the frigate within less than sixty days after raising it. The Massachusetts frigates, the "Hancock," 32, and the "Boston," 24, were built at Salisbury and Newburyport, under the direction of an agent.

The Rhode Island vessels, the "Warren," 32, and the "Providence," 28, were constructed at Providence, under the superintendence of a committee of twelve influential men of that city, who were appointed by Stephen Hopkins, the Rhode Island member of the Marine Committee. Certain complaints were lodged with the Marine Committee against the committee at Providence. One of these was made by Commodore Hopkins, who charged that the "Providence" and the "Warren" had cost twice as much as their contract price, "owing to some of the very committee that built the ships taking the workmen and the stock agreed for off to work and fit their privateers, and even threatening the workmen if they did not work for them." When in the fall of 1776 the Marine Committee wrote to the committee, blaming its members for some of their proceedings, they relinquished their authority over the two vessels to Stephen Hopkins.

The "Trumbull" was built under the direction of agents at Chatham on the Connecticut river. Two other frigates were begun in Connecticut in 1777, the "Confederacy," 36, on the Thames river between Norwich and New London, and the "Bourbon," 28, at Chatham on the Connecticut. Each of these two frigates was constructed under a superintendent responsible to Governor Jonathan Trumbull and the Connecticut Council of Safety. Two Commissioners at Poughkeepsie, New York, had charge of the work on the "Montgomery," 28, and "Congress," 24. The Marine Committee kept fairly well in its own hands the direction of the building at Philadelphia of the Pennsylvania frigates, the "Randolph," 32, the "Washington," 32, the "Effingham," 28, and the "Delaware," 24. The "Virginia," 28, was built at Baltimore, Maryland, with the assistance of the Baltimore Committee of Observation. When under the resolves of Congress of November 20, 1776, two frigates were begun at the Gosport navy-yard in Virginia, the work was placed in charge of two commissioners and a master-builder. Richard Henry Lee, the Virginia member of the Marine Committee, made the contract with the master-builder.

The duties of the prize agents were to libel all of the Continental prizes sent into their jurisdiction, see that the prizes were tried by the proper admiralty court; and after they had been legally condemned, to sell them, and make an equitable distribution of the proceeds, in accordance with the resolutions of Congress governing the sharing of prizes. The prize agents were directed by the Marine Committee to render to it a quarterly statement showing the prizes received, sales effected, and distributions of the proceeds made.

The same men who were prize agents were also as a rule "Continental agents," in which latter capacity they served the various administrative organs of Congress, including the Marine Committee. They assisted the Committee and commander-in-chief of the fleet in purchasing, refitting, provisioning, and manning the armed vessels. The naval services of some of these men, both as prize agents and as Continental agents, were so considerable as to render their names worthy of mention. Most conspicuous among the several naval agents were John Bradford of Boston, John Nixon and John Maxwell Nesbit of Philadelphia, John Langdon of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Nathaniel Shaw, jr., of New London, and Daniel Tillinghast of Providence.

Towards the close of 1776 the unsatisfactory state of the naval business, together with its increase and its growing complexity, forced home upon the Committee the necessity of providing some permanent force to take charge of the details of naval administration. Accordingly, on November 6, 1776, Congress at the instance of the Marine Committee resolved "that three persons, well skilled in maritime affairs, be immediately appointed to execute the business of the navy, under the direction of the marine committee." Later in the same month John Nixon, John Wharton, and Francis Hopkinson were selected as suitable persons for this work, all three living within or near Philadelphia.

Nixon with his experience as a shipping merchant was probably best fitted for his task. Fancy may discern a poetic fitness in his choice, since he had been the owner of the "Alfred," the first vessel of the American navy. Nixon also had the distinction of being the first man to read publicly the Declaration of Independence. Wharton belonged to the distinguished Philadelphia family of that name. Of the three men, Hopkinson probably had the widest culture. At the outbreak of the Revolution he was practicing law at Bordentown, New Jersey. He was one of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. From 1779 to 1789 he was judge of the Admiralty Court of Pennsylvania. He is best known, however, not for his substantial services, but as the author of the humorous ballad, the "Battle of the Kegs."

On April 19, 1777, Congress on the motion of John Adams decided to form a similar board for the New England states, the members of which were to "reside at or in the neighborhood of Boston, in the state of Massachusetts Bay, with a power to adjourn to any part of New England; who shall have the superintendence of all naval and marine affairs of these United States within the four eastern states, under the direction of the marine committee." Adams secured the filling of this board with some difficulty owing to the indifference of Congress to its establishment. Finally, nine men were nominated, and on May 6 three of these were chosen commissioners, James Warren of Plymouth, Massachusetts; William Vernon of Providence, Rhode Island; and John Deshon of New London, Connecticut.

Foremost of the three Commissioners was Warren, an eminent patriot, who had been President of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress and also of the Massachusetts Board of War. He was an intimate friend of John and Samuel Adams, and, it is said, much resembled the latter in character. Vernon, who served as President of the Navy Board, was a most distinguished Newport merchant and one of the most self-sacrificing of patriots. During the Revolution he advanced large sums of money to the government, which were only in part repaid. Before the war his trade extended to all the maritime nations of Europe and to the West Indies and Africa. Deshon was of Huguenot descent. He was conspicuous in the Revolutionary party of New London, and was a captain in his state's military forces. He rendered much assistance in fitting out the Connecticut navy.

These two boards were variously designated in the official documents of the time. The one was most frequently called the Navy Board of the Middle Department or District, or the Navy Board at Philadelphia, Bordentown, or Baltimore, according to its location; and the other, the Navy Board of the Eastern Department or District, or the Navy Board at Boston. The Navy Board at Philadelphia was at first referred to as the Continental Navy Board, or the Board of Assistants. These two names indicate that when the board at Philadelphia was formed, the establishing of a second board was not in contemplation. The Navy Board at Philadelphia seems to have taken little or no part in the naval affairs in New England. It was hardly settled in its work before the Navy Board at Boston was created. Attention should be called to the fact that the offices of Navy Board and of Commissioner of the Navy had long been established in the British navy. The British offices served in some degree as models to Congress and the Marine Committee.

Each board had a secretary, treasurer, and paymaster; but one person sometimes served in two, or even the three, capacities. Each board had one, and sometimes two clerks. A clerkship was at times joined with one of the other offices. The boards as a rule selected their own employees. Any two members of the Navy Board at Boston were empowered by Congress on October 23, 1777, to form a quorum.

With the exception of the resignation of Deshon in May, 1781, the Navy Board at Boston did not change in personnel. Its headquarters remained continually at Boston. On the other hand, the membership of the Navy Board at Philadelphia made several changes. On May 9, 1778, William Smith of Baltimore was elected in the place of John Nixon, who had resigned. On August 19, Hopkinson and Smith having resigned, Captain Nathaniel Falconer and James Searle, both of Pennsylvania, were appointed. Falconer declined the appointment; Searle accepted, but resigned on September 26. Meanwhile, Wharton had resigned, and the three commissionerships were vacant. On November 4, 1778, the vacancies were filled by the reappointment of Wharton, and the selection of James Read of Delaware, the clerk and paymaster of the Board, and William Winder, a captain in the military forces of Maryland and a judge of the court of appeals of Somerset county in that state. When in December, 1776, Philadelphia seemed to be in danger from the enemy, Congress and the Board retreated to Baltimore, where they spent the winter of 1776-1777. The fortunes of war compelled the Board in the fall of 1777 to retreat to Bordentown, New Jersey; and after the American fleet in the Delaware was destroyed, the Marine Committee early in 1778 ordered it to Baltimore, where it was situated for a few months. In the summer of 1778 it returned permanently to Philadelphia.

The salary of a commissioner of the navy was first fixed at ,500 a year. On October 31, 1778, "in consideration of the extensive business of their departments," this salary was raised to ,000, and on November 12, 1779, on the depreciation of the currency, to ,000. It was reduced on September 25, 1780, to ,500, and was now paid quarterly in specie or its equivalent. The salaries of the employees of the Navy Boards underwent like variations. Beginning with 0, they advanced in some instances as high as ,000 a year. On August 4, 1778, the clerk of the Navy Board at Boston was made a special allowance of 0, "in consideration of the great and constant business," in which he had been engaged.

To recapitulate, the chief agents of the Marine Committee were these: the Navy-Boards, the prize agents, the Continental agents, and the agents for building vessels. After the creation of the Navy Boards, the latter three classes served in part as their sub-agents; but by no means entirely so, for the Marine Committee gave many orders over the heads of the Boards.

The Marine Committee and its principal agents employed many minor agents. One illustration, taken from the work of the Navy Boards as purveyors of the navy, will suffice to show the subordinate character of the services which these minor agents rendered. It is recorded that the Navy Board at Boston had in its employ in New Hampshire "a contractor of beef for the navy," who in turn had in his employ a single drover, that by September, 1779, had purchased more than one thousand head of cattle for the use of the Navy Board at Boston.

FOOTNOTES:

Works of John Adams, II, 463-4.

Journals of Continental Congress, October 16, November 16, 1775.

Journals of Continental Congress, December 9, 1775.

Ibid., December 11, 1775.

Ibid., December 13, 1775.

Journals of Continental Congress, December 14, 1775.

Journals of Continental Congress. January 25, September 19, 1776. See Ford's new edition of the Journals.

The Secretary of the Marine Committee was John Brown.

Journals of Continental Congress, June 6, 1777.

Ibid., June 16, 1778.

Ibid., January 27, 1780.

Journals of Continental Congress, December 27, 1777.

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