As soon as the British received intelligence of the sailing of a French fleet under D’Estaing for America, they prepared to evacuate Philadelphia. In anticipation of this event Hazelwood was in June raising and refitting his fleet, and wishing that he had it in his “power to give the enemy a scouring before they got out of the river.” On July 19 he reported his vessels afloat and ready for use. Already the Supreme Executive Council had ordered the navy to be put into commission, and the brig “Convention” to make a cruise down the Bay. The Pennsylvania navy had cost the state at the rate of £100,000 a year.[493] It had been serviceable in defending the Delaware, but it had in the end failed to hold it. Always hampered by a lack of seamen, of naval supplies, and of an armed force comparable to that of the enemy, the Navy Board found the greatest difficulty in enforcing the orders of the Council. It was naturally blamed for a part of the inactivity and the misfortunes of the fleet. Since the British had abandoned Philadelphia, and a strong French fleet was in American waters, the need for a naval defence of the Delaware seemed more remote than it did in the first years of the Revolution. These considerations moved the Supreme Executive Council on August 14, 1778, to recommend to the General Assembly the dismissal of the Navy Board, and all the officers and men of the navy, except those that were necessary to man two or three galleys, two or three guard boats, and the brig “Convention.” The General Assembly at once agreed to the recommendation. Finally, on Friday, December 11, the following vessels were sold at the “Coffee House” in Philadelphia: “Ten galleys, Nine armed Boats, the Brig ‘Convention,’ the sloops ‘Speedwell,’ ‘Sally,’ ‘Industry,’ and ‘Black Duck;’ and the schooner ‘Lydia.’”[494]