When the Board of Admiralty took charge of the navy in December, 1779, there were ten Continental cruisers in American waters. The “Deane,” 32, was fitting for sea at Boston; the “Trumbull,” 28, was still in the Connecticut river; the “Providence,” 28, “Boston,” 24, “Queen of France,” 28, and “Ranger,” 18, were on their way to Charleston, South Carolina, in whose defence they were to assist; the “Confederacy,” 32, was at Martinique repairing and refitting; and three vessels were still on the stocks, the “America,” 74, at Portsmouth, “Bourbon,” 36, at Chatham on the Connecticut river, and “Saratoga,” 18, at Philadelphia. The “Alliance” was at the Texel in Holland where she had arrived after playing an ignominious part in the celebrated fight of Jones off Flamborough Head. This is not a formidable fleet, and its future movements have little bearing upon the great naval conflict now being waged between the mistress of the seas on the one side and France and Spain on the other. The Continental navy, however, still had some important errands to run, both Washington and the French were to ask its assistance, and on a few occasions the enemy was to find its officers and sailors no mean combatants. In completing the vessels which were building and in refitting those which were in commission, the Board of Admiralty was from the first sorely embarrassed by a lack of money. The difficulties which the Marine Committee had encountered were now intensified by the prostration of the country’s finances and credit. The Board resorted to all means within reason in its attempts to obtain the requisites for prosecuting its work. In January, 1780, it wrote to the Board of Treasury that unless money was at once forthcoming the Naval Department would be at a standstill; and that not less than one hundred thousand dollars would be sufficient for its needs.[256] It eagerly sought the proceeds to be derived from the sale of rum, wine, fruit, and sugar, taken from Continental prizes. In the summer of 1780 in order that its vessels might be in condition to render assistance to the expected French fleet, the Board solicited aid from the governors of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut; pressed the Commissary-General of Issues of the Continental Army to furnish it with “62,820 weight of Bread and 13,260 weight of Flour” with all despatch;[257] and finally, applied to John Holker, the Consul-General of France at Philadelphia, for a loan of 60,000 pounds of bread, promising to take special pains to repay it.[258]