I represent James Crombye. I was the Carpenter of HMS Alarm, a man-of-war of 683 tons and 32 guns that passed easily over the 21-22 foot depths of the entrance to Pensacola Bay. The ship’s carpenter maintained the wood structure in the ship, including the masts, and we repaired any holes in the hull from pesky things like cannonballs. In 1766 I and Joseph Smith, the boatswain, received a lot fronting Roebuck Bay in what is now Gulf Breeze. The purpose was to assist each other in building a wharf for convenience in “heaving down” ships. To heave down a ship was a way of turning a ship on its side to get to the hull for cleaning and repairs, so you didn’t have to have a dry dock. Ships in the Gulf had to do this a lot, as the warm waters encouraged the growth of worms and other kinds of rot on the wooden hulls.
Sources: 35, 116