JKAN AUDUBON AND HIS FAMILY 35 
same year he was placed in command of an American 
armed vessel The Queen and sent on another mission 
to France. Near the Chaussée des Saints he was at- 
tacked by a British privateer, but after a stubborn fight 
at close quarters he sank his enemy and entered the 
port of Brest. Nothing is said of the taking of pris- 
oners on such occasions, and there were doubtless few 
survivors among the defeated crew. This command 
Jean Audubon held until peace was concluded between 
Great Britain and her former colonies in America, prob- 
ably until the close of 1783. The hostile army was dis- 
banded in the spring of that year, the treaty of peace 
was made definitive in September, and on November 
25, 1783, the last British troopers left the city of New 
York. 
