April 27, 1776

James Furse—misspelled “Fuz” in this piece of news from Watertown, Massachusetts—was the captain of a British mercantile ship bound from Grenada to Boston. Unfortunately for Furse, by the time he reached Massachusetts, British forces no longer controlled Boston. American forces seized Furse’s ship on April 11 and brought it into the port of Cohasset. Furse petitioned the Massachusetts Council to allow him and his crew to return home to Bristol, England. But when he purchased a small vessel, Cohasset officials prohibited him from leaving. On June 1, Furse petitioned the Council again, claiming that he was “far distant from his Connections and his Family.” Finally, he was allowed to leave on his new schooner, the Sirena. You can learn more about what happened next in Chapter 1 of When the Declaration of Independence Was News.

The Pennsylvania Ledger: Or the Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, & New-Jersey Weekly Advertiser
Printed by James Humphreys, Jr.

WATERTOWN, April 15.

Last Thursday three boats, with 26 hands, took a snow bound from Grenada to Boston, James Fuz, master, and carried her into Cohasset. Her cargo consists of 354 puncheons of rum, 49 barrels of sugar, 10 barrals of coffee, 3 tons of hay, some wood, and about 10 barrels of pork and beef, a valuable prize.