To George Washington from Nicholas Cooke, 10 October 1775
From Nicholas Cooke
Providence Octor 10th 1775
Sir
I have this Moment received by Express Orders from the Honble Continental Congress to dispatch the Two armed Vessels belonging to the Colony on a Cruize after 2 Brigs that sailed from England on the 11th August last for Quebec with 6000 Stand of Arms Powder &c.1—I think it my Duty to inform your Excellency that the large Sloop hath not yet returned from her Bermuda Expedition; and that the Small One is unfit for Service unless it be in our Rivers; so that it is not in my Power to take any Measures for intercepting those Vessels. I also give the same Information to Govr Trumbull.2 I am Sir Your Excellency’s Most humble Servt
Nichs Cooke
LS, DLC:GW.
1. For Congress’s orders to intercept these vessels, see Hancock to GW, 5 Oct. 1775 (first letter). Hancock’s letter to Cooke of 5 Oct. is in , 2:114–15.
2. See Cooke to Jonathan Trumbull, Sr., this date, in “R. I. Revolutionary Correspondence,” 129–30. See also Cooke to the Rhode Island Delegates in Congress, 10 Oct. 1775, in Clark, , 2:390.