 In April 1777, Beaumarchais purchased the old 50-gun ship of the line "Hippopotame", and used her, renamed to "Fier Rodrigue", to ferry arms in the insurgents.Beaumarchais had dealt with Silas Deane, an acting member of the Committee of Secret Correspondence in the Second Continental Congress.For these services, the French Parliament reinstated Beaumarchais's civil rights in 1776.