Note 379 — Chapter XXIV
Reading edition
"Meantime, Dunmore, driven from the land of Virginia, maintained command of the water by means of a flotilla composed of the Mercury, of 24 guns; the Kingfisher, of 16; the Otter, of 14, with other ships and light vessels, and tenders which he had engaged in the King's service. At Norfolk, a town of about 6,000 inhabitants, a newspaper was published by John Holt. About noon on the last day of September (1775), Dunmore, finding fault with its favouring (according to him) 'sedition and rebellion,' sent on shore a small party, who, meeting with no resistance, seized and brought off two printers and all the materials of the printing office, so that he could publish from his ship a Gazette on the side of the King. The outrage, as we shall see, produced retaliation." (Bancroft's History of the United States, Vol. VIII., Chap. lv., pp. 220, 221.)