The need of some one to receive and dispose of prizes soon led to the appointment of “agents for prizes” in the leading seaports of the colonies. On April 23, 1776, Congress, on the recommendation of the Marine Committee, appointed prize agents as follows: One at Boston; one at Providence; one at New London, Connecticut; one at New York; two at Philadelphia; one at Baltimore; one at Williamsburg, Virginia; and one each at Wilmington, Newbern, and Edenton, North Carolina.[113] On June 25, 1776, Congress appointed an agent at Portsmouth, New Hampshire.[114] In November, 1776, the Marine Committee selected two prize agents for South Carolina and one for Georgia.[115] This list was not completed until September 1, 1779, when Congress appointed a prize agent for New Jersey.[116] These agents had charge of all Continental prizes sent into their respective states. By far the most important agency was that of John Bradford at Boston. It may be estimated that one-half of all the prizes captured by the Continental vessels in American waters were ordered to Boston. The naval port second in importance was Philadelphia. The duties of the prize agents were to libel all of the Continental prizes sent into their jurisdiction, see that the prizes were tried by the proper admiralty court; and after they had been legally condemned, to sell them, and make an equitable distribution of the proceeds, in accordance with the resolutions of Congress governing the sharing of prizes. The prize agents were directed by the Marine Committee to render to it a quarterly statement showing the prizes received, sales effected, and distributions of the proceeds made.[117] The same men who were prize agents were also as a rule “Continental agents,” in which latter capacity they served the various administrative organs of Congress, including the Marine Committee. They assisted the Committee and commander-in-chief of the fleet in purchasing, refitting, provisioning, and manning the armed vessels. The naval services of some of these men, both as prize agents and as Continental agents, were so considerable as to render their names worthy of mention. Most conspicuous among the several naval agents were John Bradford of Boston, John Nixon and John Maxwell Nesbit of Philadelphia, John Langdon of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Nathaniel Shaw, jr., of New London, and Daniel Tillinghast of Providence.