say, that incapacitated him for his command. He was removed, and the “Alliance” was sailed into Boston in charge of her lieutenant. Landais was now tried by a court-martial and dismissed from the naval service. Meantime Jones and Franklin had succeeded in obtaining from the French government the loan of the “Ariel.” Having loaded her with supplies, Jones sailed for America on October 7, 1780; but, encountering a storm which dismasted his vessel, he was compelled to return to port. On December 18 he again put to sea; and in February, 1781, he reached Philadelphia. With the departure of Jones, the European waters, for the first time in four years, were clear of the armed vessels of the Continental fleet. The venerable Franklin, vexed with the discords and details of naval affairs, must have drawn a sigh of relief when the last Continental vessel and captain had withdrawn from France. The most disagreeable of his duties as “Admiral,” to use John Adams’s word in this connection, now came to an end. Concerning his vexations, Franklin wrote to one of his agents in the summer of 1780: “I have been too long in hot water, plagued almost to death with the passions, vagaries, and ill humours, and madnesses of other people. I must have a little repose.”[366] He had now for some time been writing to Congress, asking to be relieved of his naval duties. An example of his requests may be extracted from a letter of March 4, 1780, to the President of Congress: “As vessels of war under my care create me a vast deal of business (of a kind, too, that I am unexperienced in), I must repeat my earnest request that some person of skill in such affairs may be appointed, in the character of consul, to take charge of them. I imagine that much would by that means be saved in the expense of their various refittings and supplies, which to me appears enormous.”[367] From the beginning of 1781 until the close of the Revolution the duties of the Naval Office at Paris were comparatively light. Few armed vessels were sent from America to France; and those that were, remained only long enough to refit, load with supplies, and receive letters and despatches for America. Over such ships Franklin exercised little or no control. The Agent of Marine, not wishing his vessels to slip from his grasp when within the reach of orders from Paris, sometimes directed his captains who were about to sail for France to return home on a specified date. In May, 1782, he wrote disapprovingly to Congress concerning the “delays and exorbitant expenses which have accrued from the detention of public vessels in Europe.”[368] Acting under the direct orders of Morris, Captain Barry, in the “Alliance,” in February, 1782, left L’Orient and cruised without success for seventeen days. This was the last cruise in European waters which was made by a Continental vessel during the Revolution.