1To John Jay from Alexander McDougall, 13 February 1776 (Jay Papers)
...to the Use of the British Navy. To Which Are Added, An Abstract of the Theory of Ship-Building; An Essay on Naval Discipline, by a Late Experienced Sea-Commander; A General Idea of the Armament of the French Navy; With Some Practical Observations
2From 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,”
3To Benjamin Franklin from Jacques Barbeu-Dubourg, 10 June[–2 July 1776] (Franklin Papers)
Dull, French Navy, pp. 6–9, 31–3, 36–7, 44–9, 52–3; Doniol,
4The 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.
5From 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.
6Pay Book of the State Company of Artillery, [1777] (Hamilton Papers)
At a certain period the French navy consisted of 115 sail of the line from 1st to fourth rates and 24 frigates &c. the whole having 7.080 ps. of Cannon—20618 sailors and 10904 marines.
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,
8The 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.
10To Benjamin Franklin from the Chevalier de Brus, 6 May 1777 (Franklin Papers)
...when the British captured Martinique during the last war. On June 2 he writes again, virtually repeating himself, and says that he will come on the 4th for an answer. On June 1 Bruslé, a surgeon in the French navy, inquires from Paris whether Franklin is interested in a young lieutenant who was