The magazine of history with notes and queries, Vol. II, No. 4, October 1905Various
History
The magazine of history with notes and queries, Vol. II, No. 4, October 1905
Various
History -- Periodicals; United States -- History -- Periodicals
Mr. Hammond in his article on John Paul Jones (July MAGAZINE) says
that Jones left Portsmouth for Philadelphia, November 6, 1782. He
might have added, as you will see by the following paragraph copied
from the Journal of Claude Blanchard, commissary of Rochambeau’s army,
that Jones sailed from Boston with the Frenchmen on December 23, 1782
(never to return to the United States alive.)
BOSTON. A. A. FOLSOM.
On the 23d of December, 1782, I went on board of the _Triomphant_,
eighty guns with M. de Viomenil, and on the 24th the whole squadron,
carrying the army, set sail and left the harbor of Boston; the channel
is narrow and has little depth; so that we were not without uneasiness.
Our pilot himself did not appear to be quite composed and incessantly
repeated orders. However, we fortunately got through; one only of
the transport ships was shattered upon the rocks on setting sail;
happily, there were not troops on board. We were to cruise as high
up as Portsmouth, a pretty good port beyond Boston, where two ships
of war were, which were to rejoin us and then to cruise alongside of
Rhode Island in order to meet with the _Fantasque_, a vessel armed _en
flute_. The bad weather changed these designs; we could not, without
danger, remain upon these coasts exposed to being cast away upon them
or driven upon sand banks.
On the 27th, the frigate _Iris_ left us, to proceed to France. On the
same day we lost sight of our convoy and our frigate. Moreover, every
vessel carried a sealed package pointing out the general destination of
the squadron.
The staff of the _Triomphant_ consisted of thirteen officers. Three
auxiliary and three officers of the regiment Médoc, keeping garrison in
the ship, who, with the officers who were passengers made fifty-five
persons. The soldiers and sailors were in proportion, so that there
were more than eleven hundred persons on board of this ship. We also
had on board the famous Paul Jones, who had asked permission to embark
on board of us, who behaved with great propriety.
February, 1783. On the 8th, several of our ships were obliged to put
into port at Curacoa. The squadron finally sailed for France, April
4th, arrived at Brest 17th of June.
ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS
LETTER FROM COL. HENRY GLEN, OF SCHENECTADY, N. Y., TO COL. MARINUS
WILLETT.
[The writer was distinguished during the Revolution, and his
correspondent even more so. The letter is interesting as covering a
variety of subjects, including the failure of the Oswego expedition,
local politics, etc., and for its phonetic spelling.]
SCHENECTADY, _13th March, 1783_.
My worthy Friend
COLO M. WILLETT
SIR:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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