To Alexander Hamilton from Joseph Otis, 12 November 1789
From Joseph Otis1
Barnstable [Massachusetts] November 12, 1789. “Yours of the 5th. ultimo receiv’d respecting the Expence of Light Houses, Beacons & Buoys &c in this District,2 I would inform you that there never was any Expence of that Kind within the same.… But a Light-House erected to the Northward of Cape-Codd Harbour, would be the Means of saving many Lives.…”
LS, RG 26, Lighthouse Letters Received, Vol. “B,” New Hampshire and Massachusetts, National Archives.
1. Otis was collector of customs at Barnstable.
2. This is presumably a reference to “Treasury Department Circular to the Wardens of the Ports,” October 5, 1789.