Benjamin Franklin Papers
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John Bondfield to the American Commissioners, 21 November 1778: résumé

John Bondfield to the American Commissioners1

ALS: American Philosophical Society

<Bordeaux, November 21, 1778: The Inspector of Artillery visited the port yesterday to inspect M. Bertin’s cannon. On the basis of appearance alone, their quality seems good, but this must be confirmed by testing. I herewith enclose a list indicating their specifications.2 Other cannon belonging to the same company made from the same mold can be procured from other ports. To test such heavy artillery will be expensive. If you decide to order it, remember to specify the quality of powder as well. M. de La Touche3 has ordered a frigate to accompany our vessels from La Rochelle to Nantes where M. Schweighauser has goods ready to load. The latest vessel to arrive here sailed from Alexandria September 20. You have all the intelligence we have.>

1Published in Taylor, Adams Papers, VII, 231–2.

2A list follows in the text of the letter, providing relative weights of cannon balls and of the cannon themselves.

3Louis-Charles Levassor, marquis de Latouche (1710–81), since July, 1775, commandant at Rochefort, the district in which La Rochelle was located: Etienne Taillemite, Dictionnaire des marins français (Paris, 1982).

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