1From Benjamin Franklin to Charles Lee, 19 February 1776 (Franklin Papers)
, 366; Dull, French Navy, pp. 27, 377; James H. Hutson, “The Partition Treaty and the Declaration of American Independence,”
2The Committee of Secret Correspondence to William Bingham, 21 September[– 1 October 1776] (Franklin Papers)
The ships were being made ready, but none was yet in active service: Dull, French Navy, pp. 52–3, 60–1.
3From Benjamin Franklin to John Hancock, 8 [December] 1776 (Franklin Papers)
The report of the Spanish fleet was substantially correct, but the French and the British naval preparations were much exaggerated; see Dull, French Navy, pp. 60–3, 75.
The French navy was far from ready. The British, nevertheless, were sufficiently alarmed to have inaugurated a general press the previous October. Dull, French Navy, pp. 66–8; Gruber,
5The American Commissioners to the Committee of Secret Correspondence, 17[–22] January 1777 (Franklin Papers)
The preparations that were actually being made were less impressive; see Dull, French Navy, pp. 63–4.
Jacques Boux had achieved an eminence in the French navy remarkable for one who was not of noble birth. The government had called on him in 1771 for advice in reorganizing naval administration, and the following year had promoted him to (Geneva, 1976), pp. 117–8; Dull, French Navy, 12–13, 58–60, 66–7.
7The American Commissioners to the Comte de Vergennes, 7 May 1777 (Franklin Papers)
captured a South Carolina ship; Versailles in turn ordered its patrols to give protection on demand. Dull, French Navy, pp. 64–5, 70–1; Stevens,
, 448–69; Dull, French Navy, pp. 83–6.
9The American Commissioners to Vergennes, 12 August 1777 (Franklin Papers)
Dull, French Navy, pp. 77–8; Clark,
10The American Commissioners to Henry Johnson, 28 August 1777 (Franklin Papers)
Dull, French Navy, pp. 78–80.