To a Fire Engine Imported from London with 2 dozen buckets Amt p. invoice L 72.14 Commission on shipping D^o--5% 3.12. 8 Insurance on L76 @ 2-1/2pc 1.18 Freight from London 6. 6 ---------- L 84.10. 8 Exchange 40 pc^1 33.16. 2 ---------- 118. 6.10 Freight from Baltimore 1. 4 ---------- L119.10.10. It was incorporated into the articles that the engine was to be worked for two hours every Monday of the meeting, and anyone neglecting to attend and work the engine was penalized nine pence. Moreover William Herbert, Dennis Ramsay and Isaac Roberdeau were charged with getting the engine to fires. About this time (1788) the Virginia Assembly passed an act authorizing the different towns in the state to elect fire companies. In May 1789, Dr. William Brown was elected treasurer to succeed William Hartshorne. The first mention by the Sun of other fire companies in Alexandria is in the minutes of February 28, 1791. In July specific reference is made to the Friendship Fire Company and the Relief Fire Company. In May 1793, the Sun Company was dissatisfied with the English engine, and they began correspondence with a Mr. Mason of Philadelphia with the intention of selling the old engine and acquiring a new one. Mason manufactured three engines. They contained 190, 170 and 160 gallons of water, respectively, which they discharged in one minute and a half and they were worked by twenty-four, twenty-two and eighteen or twenty men, respectively, and varied in price accordingly. The Sun Fire Company purchased the smallest engine for L125. It seems to have arrived in April 1794. Later the old engine "with the suction pipe" was thoroughly repaired by Mason and returned to the Sun Fire Company.