LIEUT. AUDUBON, REVOLUTIONIST 83 



at a sum which at that day would have been fabulous. 11 

 The business house in which he was interested failed ; his 

 plantations, refinery, houses and stores, the rents from 

 which, as we have seen, in certain years after 1789, had 

 yielded 90,000 francs, were presumably ravaged and 

 partially destroyed. When the news of this misfortune 

 reached him after 1792, his hands were tied by revolu- 

 tions at home. Though he applied to his Government 

 for relief, as undoubtedly did a host of other losers, he 

 was eventually granted only a small indemnity, not 

 exceeding 30,000 francs. 



Friends of Jean Audubon at Nantes had made re- 

 peated demands of the Ministry of Marine that he be 

 given a rank more in accord w r ith his patriotism and effi- 

 cient service to the State, and on October 11, 1797, he 

 was commissioned lieutenant-commander (lieutenant de 

 vaisseau), 12 one grade below that of captain. He held 

 this rank for three years, during which he was engaged 

 in vigilance service at Les Sables d'Olonne and in mili- 

 tary duty at Rochefort, or until he was retired from 

 the navy for disability, January 1, 1801 (le 11 nivose, 

 an 9), at the age of fifty-seven. 13 He had served the 



11 M. L. Lavigne writes that he possesses a copy of a letter addressed 

 by M. G. L. du Puigaudeau to a lawyer in Paris, in which it is stated 

 that Lieutenant Audubon's losses amounted to 1,500,000 francs. After 

 making due allowance for the psychological tendency to overestimate losses, 

 especially when sustained in remote and romantic lands, the true amount 

 was no doubt large. 



12 Or "lieutenant of a frigate," and corresponding to "mate" in the 

 merchant marine. 



13 The certificate which Lieutenant Audubon received at the time of 

 his discharge is preserved among the Lavigne manuscripts and docu- 

 ments at Coueron, and is headed: 



PORT ETAT des Services du Citoyen Jean Audubon natif des 



DE Sables d'Ollonne Departement de La Vendee age de 



ROCHEFORT. 58 ans. 



It is signed by the Chief of Administration, Daniel, the Naval Com- 

 mander-in-Chief of the District, Martin, and by the naval commissioner 

 and clerk, February 26, 1801 (le sept Ventose, an 9 de la Republique). 



