So throughout the 1750s, Dutch ministers joined the effort to create a classis in the colonies, including Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen II (son of the aforesaid Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen) who traveled on horseback in winter of 1755 to several congregations throughout the northeast to rally ministers and congregations to the cause. Soon after, Frelinghuysen traveled to the Netherlands to appeal to the General Synod, the Dutch Reformed Church's governing council, for the creation of the classis. In 1761, the effort having failed, Frelinghuysen set sail for the colonies, but as his vessel approached New York City he mysteriously perished at sea.