32 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 
Les Bons Amis (1775-6), and Le Comte d’Artois 
(1777-8). 
Captain Audubon was married on August 24, 1772, 
at Paimbceuf, to Anne Moynet,’ a widow of some prop- 
erty, who had been born at Nantes in 1735 and was thus 
nine years his senior. Her married name was Ricordel. 
She possessed several houses at Paimbceuf, and acquired 
one in 1777, which was rented to the Administration at 
the time of the Revolution (see Vol. I, p. 80), as well as 
a dwelling at Nantes, where she lived while her roving 
sailor of a husband was in Santo Domingo or the United 
States. Madame Audubon was a woman of simple 
tastes, devoted to culture, and, as we shall see, possessed 
of a kind heart. 
When Captain Audubon left Les Cayes, Santo 
Domingo, on his last trading voyage, in the spring of 
1779, bound for Nantes with a valuable cargo, his ship, 
Le Comte d’ Artois, was attacked by four British cor- 
sairs and two galleys. With the odds overwhelmingly 
against him, he fought until his crew were nearly all 
killed or disabled, and after an abortive attempt to 
blow up his vessel, tried to escape in his shallop. For 
the second time he was made a prisoner by the English, 
who in this instance took him to New York, then in the 
possession of British troops. He was landed in that 
city on May 12, 1779, and was held there as a prisoner 
of war for thirteen months. If our inference be correct, 
he finally owed his release to the efforts of the French 
Ambassador, Monsieur de la Luzerne, the same, we 
believe, who had been a Governor of Santo Domingo, 
and who in 1790 became its Minister of Marine. As 
"As signed by herself, but variously spelled “Moinet,” or “Moynette” 
in family documents of the period. On August 28, four days after their 
marriage, they drew up and signed a mutual contract regarding the 
disposition of their property in case children should be born to them. 
