The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution Volume VII Part 16

The distressed state of our finances, and the great depreciation of our paper money, inclined Congress to hope that his Catholic Majesty, if he shall conclude a treaty with these States, will be induced to lend them money; you are, therefore, to represent to him the great distress of these States on that account, and to solicit a loan of five millions of dollars upon the best terms in your power, not exceeding six per cent per annum, effectually to enable them to co-operate with the allies against the common enemy. But before you make any propositions to his Catholic Majesty for a loan, you are to endeavor to obtain a subsidy in consideration of the guarantee aforesaid.[14]

FOOTNOTE:

[14] The above is the form in which the instructions were reported by a committee.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

St Pierre's, Martinique, December 20th, 1779.

Sir,

This is the only opportunity of transmitting a letter to Philadelphia since our arrival; and as the route, which this is to take, will be very circuitous and doubtful, it will be short and general.

Having lost our bowsprit, all our masts, and many of our sails, as well as split our rudder, off the Banks of Newfoundland, we steered for this Island, and arrived yesterday afternoon. The Governor and Admiral are at Port Royal. They are informed of our being here, and I shall see them either at this or that place, according as we shall find it to be their intention to come to the one, or remain at the other. Till then, it must continue doubtful, whether we shall be able to obtain a pa.s.sage in a French frigate, or speedily refit our own; neither of which can be done without the interposition of government.

Two days hence, a vessel will sail for St Eustatia. I shall write more particularly by her, and it is more than probable, that those letters will come to hand before this.

Yesterday, a fleet of twentyfive merchant-men under the convoy of a frigate, bound from France to this place, were attacked on the southern coast of Martinique, near Port Royal, by a number of the enemy's ships of war from St Lucia. Fourteen merchant-men were captured, and two driven on sh.o.r.e. The rest escaped during a very severe action between three line of battle ships under Monsieur le Motte Piquet, (who went from Port Royal to their relief) and double the number of the enemy. This intelligence was communicated to me this morning by the commanding officer here.

I have the honor to be, &c.

JOHN JAY.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

St Pierre's, Martinique, December 22d, 1779.

Sir,

By a message received yesterday afternoon from the Marquis de Boullie, I find there is no reason to expect him or the Admiral here very soon.

We shall, therefore, set out for Port Royal early tomorrow morning, and endeavor to get our ship refitted as soon as possible. She will follow us in a day or two, and, as the enemy's ships of war are frequently cruising near the Island, she will go under convoy; four of them are now in sight of this town.

It seems agreed on all hands, that the expense of refitting the Confederacy will be very considerable. To reduce this matter to greater certainty, I have desired the captain to make out an estimate of his wants; he promised to prepare it, and give me a copy this evening. If I receive it before nine o'clock, it will accompany this letter, otherwise it will be transmitted by the next conveyance.

The agent here tells me, he is without cash, and in debt on the public account. I fear he has been neglected. I shall, however, defer saying anything further on his subject till I shall be better informed.

Should an opportunity offer of writing to your Excellency from Port Royal, I shall embrace it, if not, I shall take the first after my return. As the government here will, I hope, advance the money necessary for preparing the frigate for sea, I am anxious that you may have the earliest intelligence of it, that timely provision may be made for the payment.

Of the fleet mentioned in my letter of the 20th instant, only nine were taken or destroyed.

_7 o'clock._--I had written thus far, when Captain Harding called upon me. He has made out an estimate of the ship's wants, and given it to Mr Bingham, without having made a copy for me, which it is now too late to do to go by this vessel.

On our return from Port Royal, the captain will transmit particular accounts of everything respecting the ship, which he ought to communicate. He has been too much engaged to prepare his despatches to go by this vessel, and, therefore, postpones writing for the present, especially as he would have leisure only to repeat the general account of our misfortune contained in my letter.

I have the honor to be, &c.

JOHN JAY.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

St Pierre's, Martinique, December 24th, 1779.

Sir,

My former letters to your Excellency of the 20th and 22d instant, (a triplicate of the former, and a duplicate of the latter are herewith enclosed) have already informed Congress of the disaster, which imposed upon us the necessity of coming hither. But as that necessity has been and still continues the subject of much inquiry and investigation, it is proper that the facts from which it arose be minutely stated.

On the 7th day of November last, between the hours of five and six in the morning, in lat.i.tude 41 03 N. and longitude 50 39 W. the Captain being in bed indisposed, and the master and second lieutenant on deck, the ship going nine knots an hour in a brisk breeze and rough sea, but by no means hard weather, her bowsprit and all her masts gave way in less than three minutes. The day was employed in clearing the ship of the wreck, and getting up a little sail; towards evening a heavy gale came on. During the night, the tiller was lashed fast, and she lay too very well, the wind blowing hard at south east. The next morning the shank of the rudder was found to be so much wrenched and split, that the Captain then told me he thought it a greater misfortune than the loss of the masts. There were two French gentlemen on board, who, it was said, and I believe with truth, were well skilled in maritime affairs, having been bred to that business from their infancy, viz.

Monsieur Roche, a Knight of the Order of St Louis, and a Captain Remuy, of Ma.r.s.eilles. Either this day or the next, I am not certain which, M. Gerard remarked to me, that without any previous counsel, it seemed to be the unanimous opinion of all the naval officers on board to go to the West Indies, and that he believed it would be best, though he said he was at first inclined to oppose it. The first expedient to steer the ship was by the cable and a spar; below the split in the rudder there was a bolt with two rings, to which it had been intended to fix a chain for the purpose of steering the ship in case of such accidents, but the fixing the chains had been omitted; through this ring the Captain pa.s.sed a chain, and to each end of it fastened a strong rope, which was conducted over the quarters, and this was the second mode of steering her; but from the uncommon breadth of the rudder by which its power became unusually great, and the acuteness of the angle between it and the chains rendering a greater force necessary than if it had approached nearer to a right angle; the bolt, though to appearance a good one, broke nearly in the middle, and came out.

It seems the rudder of this ship was hung after she had been launched, and that to do it the more easily an eyebolt had been fixed in each side of the rudder below the shank; to these eyebolts two chains were then fixed, which crossing the edge of the rudder in opposite directions, were fastened to pennants made of cordage, provided for the breechings of our twelve pounders. These pennants pa.s.sed through blocks at the end of spars, run out of the ports of the cabin. From thence they were led through blocks in opposite ports of the main deck to the capstan, by means of which they were very conveniently managed, and the ship without much difficulty steered. Such however was the force and wear they underwent before our arrival in calmer lat.i.tudes and smoother seas, that they generally gave way every day or two; and the Captain tells me, no less than six hundred weight of that cordage has been consumed in that service.

So great was the swell off the Banks, and so high, though not severe the winds, that near a fortnight elapsed before the ship was put in her present condition for sailing. The same obstacles also r.e.t.a.r.ded the repairing of the rudder, which after all was so weak that it was not thought advisable to steer by the tiller, and to prevent any further injury from its striking against the ship, which it constantly did in calm weather, bags stuffed with oak.u.m were placed on each side of it, and a man employed night and day to tend them.

Some days before the 23d day of November, the Captain told me, he thought it advisable to call a council of his officers, and submit to their consideration the propriety of continuing our course towards Europe. M. Gerard shortly after mentioned to me the sitting of this council, and said, he could a.s.sure me that the Chevalier Roche and Monsieur Remuy would not give their opinions on the subject but in writing, and on being requested to do it in writing by the Captain.

This intelligence appeared to me extraordinary, but as it was not necessary that my sentiments relative to it should be known, I made no reply to M. Gerard, but by degrees turned the conversation to another subject; nor did I give the least hint of it to the Captain, but observed a perfect silence relative to it. It appeared to me that those gentlemen either overrated their importance, or entertained improper ideas of the merit of our officers, and I confess it gave me pleasure to hear that they were not consulted at all.

The council of officers was held the 23d of November last. The Captain gave me their report, together with a return of the provisions and water on board, and a.s.sured me of his readiness to proceed to any port whatever, that M. Gerard and myself should direct. I gave these papers to M. Gerard, and although I did not think it expedient by consulting the French officers to give them reason to suppose, that I concurred in sentiments with them as to the importance of their opinions, yet I told M. Gerard, I was well satisfied he should communicate to them the report of our officers, and obtain their sentiments on the question stated in it, and the better to enable him to do it, I proposed that we should postpone the discussion of the subject till the next day, or longer if necessary. He took the papers, said it was very well, and that he would speak to those gentlemen. A day or two after, being on deck, M. Gerard took me aside and gave me the papers, telling me he had seen these gentlemen, and that they both declined giving any opinion about it; that they had always been, and still were, ready to do anything for the benefit of the ship; that had they been requested to give their opinions while the matter was in agitation, they would have done it; that it was now over, and determined; that under these circ.u.mstances their opinion would be of no avail, and that they did not choose, by declaring their sentiments, either to confirm the report, or give it ineffectual opposition. M.

Gerard further intimated, that those gentlemen seemed to think their giving their advice in the course of our troubles had given offence to the officers of the ship; but I had never reason to think their apprehensions well founded. Upon this conduct of those gentlemen, I briefly observed to M. Gerard, that as they were pa.s.sengers, we had no right to demand their opinions, and that they had a right to withhold them, or not, as they pleased, and for such reasons as they might think proper; but that as the Captain of the ship had been directed by the marine committee to obey such orders as he should receive from us, it was necessary that in the present conjuncture we should decide on the report; that the Captain, in my opinion, would not be justifiable in further pursuing his course against the solemn and unanimous opinion of all the officers, unless by our express orders; and he would be culpable in changing it, without a previous application to us for direction. M. Gerard observed, that he was sensible of the honor done him by the order alluded to, but that it was not convenient to him to give any opinion or direction on the subject. It did not appear to me prudent to reply to this, and therefore I took the first opportunity of turning the conversation to another topic. As this circ.u.mstance prevented the Captain's receiving any positive orders from us on the subject, he was of course left to pursue his own judgment, but being desirous of my opinion, I gave it to him, in the manner endorsed on the report of the council, of which a copy is herewith enclosed.

The reasons on which this opinion was grounded are, in part, contained in this report, but there were others not mentioned in it. That Congress may the better judge of their force, it is necessary that they be informed of some previous circ.u.mstances.

The first fair day after losing our masts, I went to the door of M.

Gerard's room on the deck, which was open, to bid him good morning.

Chevalier Roche was with him; they were conversing on the course most proper for us to steer, and the port most proper to make for. M.

Gerard was for going to Cadiz; he had an excellent set of charts, and he had then one of the Atlantic Ocean, with its American, European, and African Coasts, and the intervening islands, before him. By the a.s.sistance of this map we perfectly understood his reasoning. The Chevalier at that time inclined to the West Indies, and I heard him, on leaving the room, tell M. Gerard, that to endeavor to get to Europe in the present condition of the ship, would be to "_run a very great risk of perishing in the ocean_." Some time after this, M. Gerard perceiving that I had adopted no decided opinion on the subject, (and that was really the case) in the course of an evening he spent with us in the cabin, (none of the officers of the ship being present) desired me to attend particularly to his several reasons for going to Cadiz, and consider them maturely before I made up my judgment. I promised him to do it, and was as good as my word. He proceeded to observe;

1st. That the distance to Cadiz and to Martinique differed but little, and that no weighty argument could be drawn from this difference.

2dly. That between us and Cadiz lay the Western and Canary Islands, into some one or other of which we might run, if necessary.

3dly. That if, on our arrival at either of these Islands, it should appear impracticable or imprudent to proceed further, our persons at least would be safe, and we might get to Europe in one of the many vessels, which frequent those Islands; whereas, on the other hand, there were no Islands between us and Martinique, and we should, in steering southward, be obliged to run all that distance without finding any place by the way, at which we might touch, or, in case of danger, find shelter.

4thly. That if calmer seas were our object, we should find them in going eastward as well as southward; that we must not expect to meet with the trade winds at that season but in a very remote southern lat.i.tude; that in crossing the lat.i.tude of Bermudas, we should meet with heavy squalls, and bad weather; that in the lat.i.tude between that and the trade winds, we must expect variable winds, and particularly long calms, which are often more dangerous, and more to be dreaded than hard winds.

5thly. That in a voyage to Cadiz, we should have nothing to apprehend from the enemy, but to Martinique, everything.

6thly. That if we should arrive safe at Martinique, we should probably be detained there until next Spring; that the vessels, which usually sail from thence for France every fall, would have departed before the time we should reach the Island; that he had reason to believe it would be very difficult, if not impracticable, to obtain a frigate, and, among other reasons, urged the absence of Count d'Estaing, and the improbability that any subordinate officer would undertake without his orders to grant us one, even admitting what was very unlikely, that one might be spared from the service.

7thly. That the ship might remain long at Martinique without being made ready for sea, for want of naval stores, provisions, &c.

These were M. Gerard's reasons for our steering for Cadiz, by the way of the Azores, and I do not remember to have afterwards heard an additional one. Whether the French officers really thought them conclusive, or whether they found it convenient to make a compliment of their sentiments to a gentleman very able to serve them, is uncertain; but I believe they in appearance inclined to M. Gerard's opinion, and gave him implied reasons to think their sentiments corresponded with his.

The matter appeared to me in a serious light, and to require caution on many accounts. Every consideration called me to Spain; private as well as public good forbade a difference with M. Gerard. I had reason to believe him well disposed towards me; I perceived, clearly, that he could not with any patience admit the idea of being absent from Europe at so important a season, and that he could scarcely treat with common decency the reasons urged for going to Martinique. Hence it appeared obvious, that should I be the means of his losing his objects, or should any public inconveniences result from our not being in Europe during the winter, I should be censured, not only by him, but by all those who judge of the propriety of a measure only by its consequences, of which number are the far greater part of mankind.