In October, 1779, the “West Florida” cruised on the Lake at the request of Galvez for the protection of trade. Letters from Philadelphia now made it evident to Pollock that Congress wished the naval force on the Mississippi to proceed to that town. He therefore on January 20, 1780, gave Pickles orders to sail for Philadelphia after taking on a cargo of tafia and sugar at Havana; but he directed Pickles, before entering on this detail, to join the fleet of Galvez and to assist in the reduction of Mobile and Pensacola.[381] This was an undertaking which Pollock had long assigned to an American fleet and army; and since 1777 he had urged it most audaciously upon Congress. After aiding in the capture of Mobile and taking a small prize which she sent into that town, the “West Florida” proceeded to Philadelphia, where she arrived about the first of June, 1780. Since it appeared to a committee of Congress that the “West Florida” was not fit for a cruiser, she was sold, and her crew was assigned to other Continental vessels.[382] Captain Pickles was placed in command of the “Mercury” packet and detailed to take Henry Laurens to Amsterdam. Here ends the story of the Revolutionary navy on the Mississippi. FOOTNOTES: [348] Wharton, Diplomatic Correspondence, II, 296-97, 355-58, 370. [349] Ibid., 119-20, Deane to Committee of Secret Correspondence, August 18, 1776. [350] Wharton, Diplomatic Correspondence, II, 178-79. [351] Stevens’s Facsimiles, 1392, 1-2, Lord Stormont to Lord Weymouth, December 18, 1776. [352] Wharton, Diplomatic Correspondence, II, 283-84, 364, 379. [353] Wharton, Diplomatic Correspondence, II, 379-80; Stevens’s Facsimiles, 1445, 1536, 1568. [354] Stevens’s Facsimiles, 1529, Lord Stormont to Lord Weymouth, May 8, 1777. [355] Stevens’s Facsimiles, 703, 1539; Wharton, Diplomatic Correspondence, II, 379-80, Deane to Robert Morris, August 23, 1777. [356] Stevens’s Facsimiles, 1562, Lord Weymouth to Lord Stormont, July 4, 1777. [357] Stevens’s Facsimiles, 1677; Wharton, Diplomatic Correspondence, II, 364-66, Vergennes to Commissioners at Paris, July 16, 1777, and Franklin and Deane to Vergennes, July 17, 1777. [358] C. H. Jones, Captain Gustavus Conyngham, 15-17; Outlook for January 3, 1903, 71-83, James Barnes, Tragedy of the Lost Commission; Hale’s Franklin in France, I, 139; Wharton, Diplomatic Correspondence, II, 375, 377, 406. [359] Wharton, Diplomatic Correspondence, II, 471-72. [360] Sherburne’s John Paul Jones, 43-53, Jones to Commissioners, May 27, 1778; Clowes, Royal Navy, IV, 11-13. [361] Wharton, Diplomatic Correspondence, III, 242. [362] Sherburne’s John Paul Jones, 111-125, Jones to Franklin, October 3, 1779, giving an account of cruise; Clowes, Royal Navy, IV, 33-39. [363] Wharton, Diplomatic Correspondence, III, 375-77, 378-79, 535, 547-49, 562-63; IV, 293; Bigelow’s Franklin, VII, 108-09.