Extract of a Letter from Lord William Campbell to Governour Tonyn

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Extract of a Letter from His Excellency the Right Hon˙ Lord WILLIAM CAMPBELL, to Governor TONYN, of ST˙ AUGUSTINE.

"* * * The bearer of this is a man who says he was bound from Newport, in Rhode-Island, to Nantucket, in a small sloop which he had freighted, but in a hard gale of wind was drove to the southward, without either chart or quadrant, and with only two landsmen and a boy on board; by a kind of miracle he made this harbour yesterday, and pushed in at a venture. The poor man' s dreadful situation fully proved the truth of his story, although he had no clearance from Newport; and the unfeigned joy he expressed when he found himself in safety, left no doubt of the reality of the distresses he had suffered. By the late acts of Parliament he might be considered as a legal prize, but Captain Thornbrough, of the Tamer, and Mr˙ Furgusson, (who commands the Cherokee,) had too much humanity to think of that, though we were all a good deal difficultied what to do with him. Return he could not, and it would have been highly improper, as well as impolitick to have suffered him to go to Charlestown, in the present situation of affairs there, as he had been only nine days from Newport, and not above a month ago was in the Rebels' camp near Boston. I therefore proposed sending him to St˙ Augustine, which Captains Thornbrough and Furgusson readily agreed to, at the same time generously offering to supply his little wants, and the man most cheerfully and with great thankfulness acquiesced. This arrangement gave me the more satisfaction, as it enabled me to furnish your Excellency with many particulars you will be anxious to know of the state of affairs to the northward, by means of this skipper, who you will find sensible and intelligent. His cargo consists of cider, apples, and cheese, and I shall be happy if it proves a seasonable supply of those articles to your Province, at this juncture. Captain Innes has given him a few lines to a friend of his in the mercantile way, to assist him in making the most of it, and procuring some employment for his bark till the summer, before which time he cannot venture to return home. To assist in navigating this vessel, and at the same time to prevent any attempt to run her into any of the little harbours on this coast, I have directed the gunner of Fort Johnson, one

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