[160] Journals of Continental Congress, March 23, 1776. [161] Ibid., October 30, 1776. [162] Journals of Continental Congress, April 2, April 3, 1776. [163] Ibid., November 15, 1776. [164] Ibid., July 25, 1777. [165] Journals of Continental Congress, January 19, March 20, 1778. [166] Ibid., November 14, 1778. [167] See Chapter I, page 46. [168] Journals of Continental Congress, August 26, 1776. This law applied to both the army and the navy. [169] Journals of Continental Congress, September 25, 1778. [170] Harvard Historical Studies, X, L. C. Hatch, Administration of American Revolutionary Army, Chapter V, Pay and Half-pay. [171] See Chapter I, page 45. [172] Journals of Continental Congress, May 6, 1778. [173] Journals of Continental Congress, August 19, 1778. [174] Journals of Continental Congress, July 11, 1776. [175] Edward Field’s Esek Hopkins, 154-56, quotes words of Hopkins in his own defence. Washington feared the plan of the Naval Committee would fail as the enemy must know it, so long had the fleet been fitting for sea.—Ford, Writings of Washington, III, 319. [176] Journals of Continental Congress, August 12, 15, and 16, 1776. [177] Quoted in Field’s Esek Hopkins, 158. [178] Edward Field’s Esek Hopkins, Chapter VI, Conspiracy and Dismissal, contains many original documents. [179] Journals of Continental Congress, March 25, March 26, 1777. [180] Ibid., January 2, 1778. [181] Journals of Continental Congress, July 30, 1778. [182] Edward Field’s Esek Hopkins, 237-38. [183] Marine Committee Letter Book, Committee to Count D’Estaing, July 12, July 17, 1778. [184] Journals of Continental Congress, July 23, September 24, October 27, November 4, 1778; January 21, June 7, 22, 23, July 30, August 2, 1779. CHAPTER V THE CONDITIONS OF THE CONTINENTAL NAVAL SERVICE The nineteenth century worked its marvels on sea as well as on land. The progress of invention, the discovery of new sources of wealth and power in nature and in man, and the development of powerful states, have revolutionized transportation and communication by sea, maritime pursuits, and naval science. Commerce has found fleeter wings; and it no longer waits on the caprice of Aeolus. Countless steamships with enormous tonnage and high rates of speed have in large measure supplanted the small, snaillike sailing craft of our fathers. The hazards of sea-going trade have been greatly reduced. Invention has pacified Neptune’s fierce temper. The breed of pirates and corsairs has been exterminated by the long muscular arm of the modern state. The privations of ocean-travel which were distressing accompaniments of the colonial period in America, were succeeded about the middle of the last century by the comforts of the first steamships, and these within the memory of young men have yielded to the luxuries of the floating palaces of the sea.