1. Simeon Deane, Silas Deane’s brother, was dispatched in early January on the frigate Belle-Poule, which had been alerted to be ready for his use, with news of the preliminaries and imminent signing of the Franco-American treaties. Beset by bad weather and storm damage, Deane was forced to return to France and by late February was again in Paris, where he received copies of the treaties signed in his absence. Setting out again, he departed from Brest on 8 March in the Sensible. From Casco Bay, Deane traveled overland through Boston and finally arrived, on 2 May, at York, Penna., where the congress had its first reading of the treaties the same evening (Boston Gazette, 20 April; Dull, French Navy and Amer. Independence description begins Jonathan R. Dull, The French Navy and American Independence: a Study of Arms and Diplomacy, 1774–1787, Princeton, 1975. description ends , p. 93; Silas Deane to Conrad Alexandre Gerard, 1 March, Deane Papers description begins Papers of Silas Deane, 1774–1790, in New-York Historical Society, Collections, Publication Fund Series, vols. 19–23, New York, 1887–1891; 5 vols. description ends , 2:385; JCC description begins Worthington C. Ford and others, eds., Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789, Washington, 1904–1937; 34 vols. description ends , 11:417–418; Burnett, ed., Letters of Members description begins Edmund C. Burnett, ed., Letters of Members of the Continental Congress, Washington, 1921–1936; 8 vols. description ends , 3:214–215).

2. Probably the fleet under Capt. La Motte-Picquet that reportedly was intended to convoy several transports carrying military supplies during the initial stages of their voyage to America, and which sailed from Quiberon Bay about a week before the departure of Simeon Deane and the Sensible (Boston Gazette, 20 April).

3. Capt. Harmon Courter was the original instrument by which the signed treaties were to reach America. The return of Simeon Deane, however, presented a second opportunity and, as luck would have it, Deane arrived at the congress first. Courter sailed in the French frigate Nymphe, Capt. Senneville, from La Coruña, Spain, in mid-March, arriving at Boston on 5 May and at York, Penna., on the 18th (Gérard, Despatches and Instructions description begins Despatches and Instructions of Conrad Alexandre Gérard, 1778–1780: Correspondence of the First French Minister to the United States with the Comte de Vergennes, ed. John J. Meng, Baltimore, 1939. description ends , p. 141, note 4; Silas Deane to Courter, 17 Feb.; Courter to Deane, 13 March, Deane Papers description begins Papers of Silas Deane, 1774–1790, in New-York Historical Society, Collections, Publication Fund Series, vols. 19–23, New York, 1887–1891; 5 vols. description ends , 2:370–371,406–407; Courter to Benjamin Franklin, 5 May, Cal. Franklin Papers, A.P.S. description begins I. Minis Hays, comp., Calendar of the Papers of Benjamin Franklin in the Library of the American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, 1908; 5 vols. description ends , 1:413; Boston Gazette, 11 May; James Lovell to Benjamin Franklin, 20 June, Wharton, ed., Dipl. Corr. Amer. Rev. description begins Francis Wharton, ed., The Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States, Washington, 1889; 6 vols. description ends , 2:626–627).