When the Council of Safety assumed control of the navy on July 24, 1776, it found the spirit of dissatisfaction and insubordination so strong among the naval officers that it removed Davidson from the navy; at the same time, however, it declared that the charges made against him were frivolous.[478] On September 2, 1776, the Council of Safety gave Samuel Mifflin an opportunity to decline the office of commodore. Thomas Seymour was named for the place on September 26, 1776. Early in 1777 Captain John Hazelwood, “Commander-in-Chief of the Fire Vessels, Boats and Rafts belonging to the State,” objected to being subject to the orders of Commodore Seymour, who was an old man, infirm, and incapacitated for his position. On September 6, 1777, when Philadelphia was threatened by the British, Seymour was discharged, and Hazelwood was appointed in his place.[479] Hazelwood was the sixth commodore within less than two years. The Committee of Safety and the Council of Safety passed a number of resolutions fixing the naval pay. For a time the officers on board the ship “Montgomery” and the two floating batteries were generally paid larger wages than those on board the galleys. On February 22, 1777, the Council of Safety adopted a new pay-table, which gave the same salary to officers of the same rank, on whatever vessel employed. The monthly wages of the leading officers were as follows: commodore, $75; captains, $48; first lieutenants, $30; second lieutenants, $20; and surgeons, $48. Seamen were paid $12 a month. A bounty of $12 was now given to recruits.[480] On June 25, 1777, the salary of the commodore was raised to $125 a month.[481] On February 4, 1776, the Committee of Safety gave captors two-thirds of the proceeds of the prizes taken on the Delaware river, and reserved the remaining one-third for the maintenance of disabled sailors and the widows and families of those who should be killed.[482] Recognizing the navy’s need of a permanent body of administrators, the Council of Safety on February 13, 1777, appointed a Navy Board of six members who were authorized to take under their care all the vessels of the navy. On February 19 four additional members were added.[483] On March 13, 1777, the Supreme Executive Council, which on March 4 had become the executive of the state, reconstituted the naval board. It was now to consist of eleven members, any three of whom formed a quorum. It was given “full power and authority to do and perform all Matters and things Relating to the Navy of this State, subject nevertheless to the directions and examinations of the Council, from time to time, as we may judge expedient, and saving to ourselves always the power of appointing officers.” William Bradford and Joseph Blewer, who each served for a time as chairman of the Board, were its most useful members. On the same day, March 13, the Supreme Executive Council constituted a Board of War.[484]