$7 A Th PF A PIERS. 
Were not within our reach; and ' 
therefore we directed our attention 
to the other branch of expence, the 
fervices, as a fubjecét that bore the 
appearance at leaft of a more fuc- 
cefsful inveftigation. 
The movements and various oc- 
eafions of the army rendered it ne- 
eeffary to employ a great number 
of veffels of different kinds, with 
pilots and feamen, and many wag- 
gons, horfes, drivers, artificers, and 
labourers. Of the veffels, waggons, 
and horfes, very few were pur- 
chafed by government for the ufe 
of the army; by far the greatett 
part of them were hired by the 
month, or the day, and very many’ 
of them kept in continual pay : 
the hire of all thefe, which conili- 
tutes a very confiderable part of the 
expenditure, was, in fome cafes, 
uncertain, and depended upon cir- 
eumftances; but in many it was 
regulated, and fettled at a certain 
price. The hire of a veffel under 
thirty tons was three pence half- 
penny a day per ton; the wages of 
each feaman was two fhillings and 
four-pence. a day, with a foldier’s 
ration, and on¢ fixth of a quart of 
frum. The hire of a veflel of thirty 
tons and upwards was ten fhillings 
a@ month ger ton, until May 1777, 
when the rate of wages, and the 
0 of provifions, and of naval 
ores, being intreafed, it was raifed 
to thirteen fhillings; the owner was 
engaged to find the proportion of 
fix men to every hundred tons, 
to vittual them, and to keep the 
veffel in repair. The hire, by the 
day, of a fmall waggon, with one 
driver and two horfes, was feven 
Shillings; of a large waggon, with 
one driver and four horfes, twelve 
fhillings; of a fingle horfe, one 
fhilling and nine-pence; of a dri- 
ver alone, from feven-pénce to one 
[317 
fhilling and nine-pence; of a com- 
mon labourer, from feven-pence te 
two fhillings and four-pence. 
Ali the veffels and fmall craft 
(except thofe in the engineer’s de- 
partment) were at firft procured by 
and under the infpection and ma- | 
nagement of the quarter matter ge- 
neral; but, the bufinefs of that 
office increafing, the commander in 
chief, by warraat, dated rft of Ja- 
nuary 1777, created an officer to 
be agent for vittuallers ftore fhips 
and {mall craft: he was called the 
fuperintendant of veffels; and to 
his charge were committed all the 
veffels and finall craft, with their 
appendages, employed in the fer- 
vice of the army (except thofe at~ 
tached to the chtef engineer, which. 
were left fill to remain under his 
care:) he was enjoined to fee that 
they were properly manned. and 
equipped, and jultly rated as to 
their tonnage; he was authorized 
to charter or hire veffels for inland 
navigation, when neceflary, and to 
appropriate to the feveral depart-+ 
ments the number they wanted, 
and fuch as were belt conitructed 
for the refpeftive fervices. Though 
the quarters matter general was thus 
relieved from the trouble of pro 
viding and fuperintending the vef= 
fels, pilots, and feamen, yet the 
payment of the hire of them was 
ftill left to his office, and continued 
there until the beginning of the 
year 4778; when the commander 
in chief iffued orders, that the hiré 
fhould be paid in the office of that 
department where they were em 
ployed. ‘Fhe mode of payment 
was this: the fuperintendant grant- 
ed, fometimes upon his own know- 
ledge, fometimes upon the informa- 
tion of perfons under him, to thé 
perfon entitled, a ticket of pay, 
tigned by himfelf or his deputy, and 
directed 
