Note 23 — SECRET SERVICE SECRETS

The Spies of Washington did not record the names of the British vessels in Gardiner’s Bay but the heir to the island, John Lyon Gardiner, who was a boy ten years old when the fleet arrived, made record on February 9, 1796, in which he says: “There were eleven ships of the line and perhaps some frigates. They came in August, 1780, and went out in March, 1781. There was the ‘Royal Oak,’ 74 guns, Vice Admiral Arbuthnot, ‘London,’ 90 guns, Rear Admiral Graves, ‘Colloden,’ 74 guns, Capt Sweeny, ‘Bedford,’ 74 guns, Capt Affleck, ‘Prudent,’ 74 guns, Capt. Charles Ogle, ‘Robuste,’ ‘America,’ ‘Shrewsbury,’ ‘Europe,’ ‘Rising Sun’ and ‘Swan.’”