Browsing: Papers of John Adams, Volume 6

1. Alexander Gillon, commissioned on 16 Feb. and directed to sell South Carolina produce, borrow money, and purchase three frigates, reached France in Jan. 1779. He had little success in fulfilling his commission but, in May 1780, did manage to lease the frigate Indien, a vessel long sought by John Paul Jones, which was renamed the South Carolina ( DAB ; Louis F. Middlebrook, The Frigate South Carolina, Salem, Mass., 1929, p. 2–5; see also Gillon to the Commissioners, 25 Jan. 1779, PPAmP: Franklin Papers; and the Commissioners to J. D. Schweighauser, 10 June, calendared above). JA's relations with and opinion of Gillon were satisfactory until the voyage, undertaken in part to escape creditors, of the South Carolina in 1781 with JA's son Charles as a passenger. For additional information on Gillon and his relations with the Adamses, see JA, Diary and Autobiography , 2:447; Adams Family Correspondence , 4:22, 55. On the day JA received this letter from Edward Rutledge he received another letter of introduction for Gillon, dated 4 July, from Arthur Middleton (Adams Papers). Additional letters recommending Gillon were received by the Commissioners from Christopher Gadsden, 15 July, and Rawlins Lowndes, 18 July (PPAmP: Franklin Papers).