Norwich bulletin., 1916-01-22

4N-T----t '<7-F-N - Ar- -
 However. it vac not until the be- ginning of the Revoiutionafy war that shipbullding in Norwich got its real impetus. In I776. Connecticut ordered four row -galleys to be built. Three only were completed-the Shark, built at Norwich by Capt Jonathan Lester. the Crane at East Haddam. and the Whiting at New Haven.
 Capt. Lester went to New Haven, we which was sixty foot keel. eighteen feet beam. five feet hold. and four inches dead rising. As master build dollar per day. The galley carried two pieces of ordnance, six or nine pounders. and fifty men. including off, cers. It was furnished with lances, poles and hatchets.
 conneeticut,s thrs. oaIIevs were sent to New York, soon after they were rigged and manned. at the re- quest of General Washington. to be used on the Hudson river. At first the Shark was commanded by The opilus Stanton, but while in service at New York by Capt. Roger Tanning.
 Scarcely had Capt Lester completed the Shark when he received orders from Governor Trumbull to hasten with twenty-five carpenters, to Crown GOlIAt, tQ D41lQ DaISduz TOT the 4ltlhe, upon a reQuisition< of Gen Schuyler.
 The confsderacy, continental ship of 32 guns, was one of two frfgates ordered by congress to be built in Connecticut, under the direction of the governor and council of safety. It was constructed at Norwich by Jedediah Willett, under the superin- tendence of Major Joshua Huntington, who, as agent of the state, procured material and Workmen. She was built chiefly of Tory timber, the oak for her keel having been brought from the confiscated land of William Browne. in the neighboring town of Salem. Locust trees for her trunnels were felled from a lot at New London owned by a Boston Royalist, while blanks from the confiscated groves of other refugees did their part in fash ioning her huh and laying her deck She was launched Nov B. 177S and lowed down the river on the 30th, to | be rigged and recruited at New Lon don.
 Capt. Seth Harding wac the first and only commander of the confed- eracy. She was ordered to France carrying as passengers MT Jay, the American minister, and Count de Ger ard, a French envoy: but she had not been long out when she encountered furious gale, rolled over, lost her masts. and though she righted again | she was forced to steer for the near est friendly port in the West Indies \ to ref1t.
 The following notice appeared in the Martinico Gazette of Dee. is, 177e: The Continental frigate Confederacy 40 guns. Capt, Harding, came into ouI road She left Philadelpiffa Oct. 27 destined for Franco. met with a gale on the banks of Newfoundland lost
 her masts. had six feet of water ir the hold and arrived in the midst oi peril. The Count de Gerard, late the United States, and His Excellency John Jay, who goes to represent the States at the Court of Madrid, were | on board.
 They (the ambassadors) sailed from Martinico for France Nov. 2e, in the
 French frigate L,Aurore.
 The confoderacy refitted at Mar. tinieo and returned home. She wa. next sent to Cape Francois for cloth. l ing and other supplies for the army 1 and on the homeward voyage eneoun- tered two British vessels a ship oi the line and a frigate, to which shs surrendered. June 22. 17S1. The Brit.
 tsh changed her name to the Confed. crate, and sent her to England as con. l yoy to fleet of transports, and witi
 nearly 100 prisoners on board, chief,
 the crews of two New London priva. teers which they had taken
 | At that period, by the way the pa, | of seaman was from 40 shillings ts
 4S shillings per month
 What Norwich did in shipbuildin.
 In after. years will be told later.
 THE DICTAGRAPH.