I represent James Griest. I was a resident of Pensacola during the British colonial period. I was a harbor pilot. Harbor pilots were quite valued for navigating ships through to the port of Pensacola. In 1776 I applied to the Governor’s Council for the position of Branch Pilot which James Mant had recently resigned from and was granted it. In my application I said I had served on HMS Diligence which chased smugglers on the Mississippi, and Captain Daveys had been pleased with my service. I was recruited to join HMS Mentor as an extra pilot on May 16, 1780. The Mentor was a sloop built in Maryland in 1778. It spent between April 1780 and May 1781 – the height of Spanish hostilities – patrolling the waters near Pensacola. Apparently I decided the open sea was not for me, for in early August just as the Mentor was preparing to cruise to the west, I left the ship without permission, and was considered a deserter. I didn’t go far, though: I appear on the Spanish list of townspeople at Pensacola at the capitulation on May 10, 1781.
Sources: 5, 7, 27, 135