In 1757 the Pennsylvania Assembly sent Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) to London to plead for a more equitable taxation policy to cover the Crown's expenses in the war against the French. During the first part of his journey, Franklin was on a ship that was part of a fleet of 96 sailing vessels bound for the town of Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island, which was still in the hands of the French. Looking out over the sea, he observed that the wakes of two of the ships were remarkably smooth, while all the others were ruffled by the wind. Seeking an explanation, he asked the captain, who told him that the cooks on those two ships had probably just emptied their greasy water. The captain thought it a fairly stupid question, since the answer was common knowledge among seamen. According to Franklin's confession in a letter sent to William Brownrigg in 1773, that experience prompted him to carry out his own experiments: “In my own mind I at first slighted his [the captain's] solution, tho' I was not able to think of another. But recollecting what I had formerly read in Pliny, I resolved to make some experiment of the effect of oil on water, when I should have opportunity.”