Francis Coffyn to the American Commissioners
ALS: American Philosophical Society
<Dunkirk, June 19, 1778: A brig that arrived last night sighted
a fleet off Portland on the 15th: twenty-one ships of the line
and five or six frigates, westward bound. The news strengthens
my impression that this was Admiral Keppel’s squadron. A
report is current here today that Byron sailed from Plymouth
on the 10th. I wait your approval before sending this intelligence
to America by the first ship.
The commissary refused James Bearns passage to Brest on
the brig, I suppose for fear that the British might search her in
the Channel and find an American on board the King’s ship.>
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