LAST VISIT TO COUERON 135 



pened to be among the passengers. 'The Rattle- 

 snake/' he continued, "kept us under her lee, and almost 

 within pistol-shot, for a day and a night, ransacking the 

 ship for money, of which we had a great store in the 

 run under the ballast which was partially removed, but 

 they did not go deep enough to reach the treasure. The 

 gold belonging to Rozier and myself I put away under 

 the ship's cable in the bow, where it remained until the 

 privateers had departed." 



Upon reaching a point thirty miles off Sandy Hook, 

 they learned from a fishing smack that two British 

 frigates lay off the harbor and were impressing Ameri- 

 can seamen, that, in short, they were even more un- 

 welcome than pirates who sailed under letters of marque. 

 The captain, thus forewarned of one danger, had the 

 misfortune to run into another, for upon taking his 

 vessel into Long Island Sound, she encountered a storm 

 and was stranded in a gale; no great harm was experi- 

 enced, however, for the vessel was finally floated off 

 and reached New York on the following day. The 

 passage money paid by Audubon and Rozier to Cap- 

 tain Sammis amounting to 525 livres, or $125, 9 was en- 

 tered, according to their articles of agreement, as the 

 first item of their "social expenses." After a brief visit 

 with Benjamin Bakewell they hurried to "Mill Grove," 

 and Audubon to the home of his sweetheart, Lucy. 



9 The receipt which the captain handed the young men, and which the 

 methodical Rozier preserved, remains as a souvenir of this voyage (in the 

 Tom J. Rozier MSS); it reads as follows: 



Recvd. from Mr. John Audubon & 



ferdinand Rozier the sum of five Hundred 

 and twenty five Livers being in full for their 

 passage from Nantes to New York in the Ship 



Polly S. Sammis 



[In Rozier's (?) handwriting] New York May 28, 1806 

 [Indorsed by Rozier on back] Pay 6 le 11 avril 1806 



