Note 14 — Chapter VII · THE JOURNAL OF WILLIAM RUSSELL (1776-1783)
Reading edition
In his “History of Prisons,” published in 1792, John Howard, the philanthropist, mentions in an account of a visit to Forton Prison near Portsmouth during the Revolution:
“The American prisoners there had an allowance from the States paid by order of Dr. Franklin.”
The small payments of cash doled out to the American seamen in Mill Prison were entrusted to this Miles Saurey, of London, by Benjamin Franklin, at that time in France as Minister.