William Temple Franklin to Gourlade & Moylan, 19 August 1780
William Temple Franklin to Gourlade & Moylan
Copy: Library of Congress
Passy 19. Augt. 1780.
Gentlemen,
I am directed by My Grandfather to acknowledge the Receipt of your favour of the 11. Instant. & to inform you that he immediately communicated it to M. Le Ray De Chaumont, who this Day told him that he had sent down Orders to M. De Montplaisir for the immediate Settlement of the Wages & Prize money of the Bonhomme Richard. So that this affair now rests intirely with that Gentleman.8 My Grandfather who is very Anxious for the sailing of the Ariel, hopes no Time will be lost in finishing this Business, it being the only obstacle to her Departure. With great Respect, I have the Honour to be, Gentleman,
(signed) W T. Franklin.
Messrs. Gourlade et Moylan.
8. Chaumont, however, had paid no prize money and only part of the Bonhomme Richard crew’s wages by mid-December, when the Ariel sailed to America: Thomas J. Schaeper, France and America in the Revolutionary Era: the Life of Jacques-Donatien Leray de Chaumont, 1725–1803 (Providence, R.I., and Oxford, 1995), p. 276.