I represent Joseph Smith. I was the Boatswain 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 boatswain (pronounced “bosun”) maintained the ship’s rigging, sails, boats, and other equipment. In 1766 I and James Crombye, the ship’s carpenter, 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