The governors and legislatures of the colonies and other local governmental authorities often aided the Committee in its work. The work of Governor Trumbull and the Connecticut Council of Safety in the building of the Continental frigates in that state has already been noted. In the latter part of 1776 the New York Convention attempted in behalf of the Marine Committee to secure the two Continental frigates at Poughkeepsie from the British when they occupied the lower Hudson. Such illustrations could be multiplied. In two services so closely connected as the navy and the army, the officers and agents of one were naturally now and then called upon to serve the other. They borrowed from and lent to each other cannon, ammunition, and military stores. The Commissaries of one and the Navy Boards of the other had mutual dealings. The Commissary-General of Prisoners of the Army had much to do with the care of the marine prisoners. Towards the close of 1776 the unsatisfactory state of the naval business, together with its increase and its growing complexity, forced home upon the Committee the necessity of providing some permanent force to take charge of the details of naval administration. Accordingly, on November 6, 1776, Congress at the instance of the Marine Committee resolved “that three persons, well skilled in maritime affairs, be immediately appointed to execute the business of the navy, under the direction of the marine committee.”[118] Later in the same month John Nixon, John Wharton, and Francis Hopkinson were selected as suitable persons for this work, all three living within or near Philadelphia. Nixon with his experience as a shipping merchant was probably best fitted for his task. Fancy may discern a poetic fitness in his choice, since he had been the owner of the “Alfred,” the first vessel of the American navy. Nixon also had the distinction of being the first man to read publicly the Declaration of Independence. Wharton belonged to the distinguished Philadelphia family of that name. Of the three men, Hopkinson probably had the widest culture. At the outbreak of the Revolution he was practicing law at Bordentown, New Jersey. He was one of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. From 1779 to 1789 he was judge of the Admiralty Court of Pennsylvania. He is best known, however, not for his substantial services, but as the author of the humorous ballad, the “Battle of the Kegs.”