John Bondfield to the American Commissioners
ALS: American Philosophical Society
<Bordeaux, August 29, 1778: I have received your letter of the
19th commissioning the purchase of 56 pieces of cannon. I
suspect it will be November before I can collect them. I presume
they are for naval use; let me know where to send them.
I am without instructions for the General Arnold; the delays
cause very heavy expenses which are charged to me. Another
of the General Mifflin’s prizes bound from London to Archangel
has arrived at the address of my friend Jean Baptiste Nairac at
La Rochelle. The privateer Oliver Cromwell was met north of
the Azores. Merchants here are alarmed that the West India
ships were abandoned by their convoy escort off Bermuda.
Future instructions for the naval captains providing convoy
will probably be changed and hopefully our ships will share
the protection accorded America-bound French ships.>
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