The Provincial Congress having adjourned on the 29th of November, the Second Council of Safety continued the naval preparations. On December 16 it appointed William Henry Drayton, the well-known Revolutionary agitator and leader, to command the “Prosper” in place of Captain Tufts who had some time before been transferred from the “Defence” to the “Prosper.”[545] A third vessel was now obtained, the schooner “Comet,” and was placed in charge of Captain Joseph Turpin. Owing to the paucity of seamen in South Carolina, the Council of Safety in December directed Captain Robert Cochran to proceed to Massachusetts and obtain recruits for the navy. When in January, 1776, Cochran was in Philadelphia, the delegates of South Carolina to the Continental Congress called that body’s attention to Cochran’s mission. In order that no friction should arise between Cochran and the military authorities in Massachusetts over the enlistment of men, Congress recommended to him that he offer to seamen moderate wages and bounties; that he immediately repair to the camp at Cambridge and take Washington’s advice; and that he enlist the seamen in those parts of the country where he would least interfere with the Continental service. The Massachusetts Council agreed to permit Cochran to raise three hundred men.[546] South Carolina also enlisted seamen in Georgia.[547] On February 15 the Second Provincial Congress, which had met on the 1st, appointed a committee to report on the best means and the expense of building two frigates of thirty-two guns each. It authorized the enlisting, if necessary, of two hundred marines. On March 5 a committee was appointed to prepare “proper Rules and Articles for the better regulation and government of the Navy of this Colony.” On the 25th, the report of this committee after amendment was adopted, and on the next day the respective rank of army and navy officers was fixed. On March 14th the Provincial Congress authorized the committee at Georgetown, a port to the north of Charles Town, to purchase and fit out proper armed vessels for the defence of the trade of Georgetown, and on the same day gave similar orders to a committee of Beaufort, a port to the south of Charles Town. Provision was now made for a Muster-Master General of the Army and Navy.[548] In March the armed schooner “Peggy” was in the service of the state.