Benjamin Franklin Papers

John Paul Jones to the American Commissioners, 16 May 1778: résumé

John Paul Jones to the American Commissioners3

ALS: University of Virginia Library; AL: United States Naval Academy Museum;4 copy: National Archives

<Brest, May 16, 1778: The local admiralty will apparently delay the sale of the Ranger’s prizes; I therefore have to draw on you through M. Bersolle for 24,000 l.t. to distribute among my officers and men. They need to provide for their families in America, who will expect clothing, etc., by the Drake. I will give you a full account of the Ranger within a day or two. France, I believe, cannot give up prisoners held on an American ship.>

[Note numbering follows the Franklin Papers source.]

3Published in Taylor, Adams Papers, VI, 128–9.

4See our note on his letter above, May 9.

Index Entries