LAST VISIT TO COUERON 135 
pened to be among the passengers. “The Ratile- 
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,° 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. 
® 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 
SPolliy Martevers sersievceyeverersisis ore eels velar S. Sammis 
[In Rozier’s (?) handwriting] New York May 28, 1806 
[Indorsed by Rozier on back] Payé le 11 avril 1806 
