John Bondfield to the American Commissioners
ALS: American Philosophical Society
<Bordeaux, January 1, 1779: Compliments of the season.
There have been no new arrivals since my letter of December
5. At Nantes, the Chasseur is loaded; contrary winds have delayed
the [Governor Livingston] at the Ile de Ré for two months.
I rejoice in the appointment of a convoy, which will promise
more protection for merchant ships. Captures have discouraged
expeditions; insurance premiums are now at sixty percent,
which exhausts capital. Losses from this port since January,
1778, include forty-eight ships going and coming between
Bordeaux and the West Indies, fifty-six going to and coming
from the United States, and thirty-one on the coasts of America
and the islands. Most are between two hundred and five
hundred tons.>
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