[403] Massachusetts Revolutionary Archives, XL, 110-11. The influence on the naming of vessels of the friendly relations existing between the United States and France during the Revolution early manifested itself. On December 27, 1776, the Massachusetts Board of War changed the names of its trading vessels as follows: ships, “Julius Cæsar” to “Bourbon,” “Venus” to “Versailles,” and “Friend” to “Paris;” brigantines, “Charming Sally” to “Penet,” and “Isabella” to “Count D’Estaing.” The brigantine “Penet,” which was named for a French merchant at Nantes, a member of the firm of Pliarne, Penet and Company, agents for the United States, has been sometimes confused with the brigantine “Perch,” which was obtained by Massachusetts in the fall of 1777 for the sole purpose of conveying the news of Burgoyne’s surrender to the American Commissioners at Paris. The letters and dispatches were intrusted with Jonathan Loring Austin, secretary of the Board of War, who after a passage of thirty days reached the Commissioners at Passy on December 4, 1777.—Board of War Minutes, December 27, 1776; Hale’s Franklin in France, I, 155. [404] Board of War Letters, Massachusetts Revolutionary Archives, May 23, 1777. [405] Massachusetts Resolves, January 8, January 24, 1777. On December 6, 1776, six naval offices were established, which included a captain’s clerk, prizemaster, and sergeant of marines. [406] Massachusetts Resolves, March 21, 1777. [407] Ibid., August 6, 1777; January 17, 1778. [408] The following is an extract from the enlisting contract of the armed brig “Active,” which was signed by officers, seamen, and marines: “And we hereby bind ourselves to Submit to all orders and regulations of the Navy of the United States of North America and this State and faithfully to observe and obey all such orders, and Commands as we shall receive from time to time from our Superior Officers on board or belonging to the said Brig Active and on board any Such Boats or Vessel or Vessels as foresaid. “And it is on the part of the State that such persons as by Land or sea shall loose a Limb in any Engagement with the Enemies of these United States of America or be otherwise so disabled as to be rendered incapable of getting a Lively Hood Shall be entitled to the same Provisions as the disabled Persons in the Continental Service.”—Massachusetts Revolutionary Archives, XL, 20. [409] Massachusetts Resolves, April 21, 1778. [410] Massachusetts Revolutionary Archives, XLIV, 279. [411] Massachusetts Resolves, February 8, 1781. Three members of the Board of War and two clerks were continued for a few months to settle the accounts of the Board. [412] Massachusetts Resolves, October 4, 1782. [413] Massachusetts Resolves, March 21, 1780; February 19, March 6, April 23, 1781; November 12, 1782; March 26, 1783. [414] Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, VI, 564; Maclay, History of American Privateering, 52-60.