In 1728 the negotiations with Spain which led to the Treaty of Seville were about to begin. In May, the Duke of Newcastle called upon the Board for a report upon the English possessions in America which were disputed by Spain, specifying the Bahamas, Campeche, and Fort King George. In preparing its reply the Board took account of a number of papers submitted by persons in England claiming special knowledge of the southern frontier. 61 The Proprietors' secretary, Shelton, asserted that 'tho the Inhabitants usually reckoned the Bounds of Carolina to extend no further than St. Maria River; yet by persual of Mr. Nairne's Mapp and other more antient Mapps, I find that the Fort of St. Augustine is included within the Proprietors' Charter.' He cited the occupation of the forks of the Altamaha as a basis for Carolinian claims, as did also Robert Johnson, Francis Yonge, and Samuel Wragg in another paper of information. The merchant Godin thought that 'the Inhabitants always took the Alatamaha River to pe a naturall boundary between us.' There was general agreement that the Spaniards had not for many years enjoyed any control farther northward, and that the maintenance of an advanced southern border was imperative in face of the French as well as the Spaniards. One Captain John Bowdler gave an eye-witness's description of Fort King George. On June 20, 1728, the Board transmitted to Newcastle a representation and a report;