* 
400 
1804 . 
August. 
September. 
A VOYAGE TO [At Mauritius. 
the most agreeable, most useful, and at the same time durable, was 
that of a young French merchant ; a man well informed, a friend to 
letters, to science, and the arts ; who spoke and wrote English, and 
had read many of our best authors. To him I am principally indebted 
for having passed some agreeable days in prison, and his name 
therefore merits a place in this history of the misfortune which his 
friendship contributed to alleviate ; nor am I the sole English pri- 
soner who will mention the name of Thomas Pitot with eulogium. 
On the 27th, an English squadron consisting of two ships of 
the line and two frigates, under the command of captain John Osborn, 
arrived to cruise off' the island ; and some days afterward, my boat- 
swain and six of the merchant officers, prisoners at Flacq, made 
their escape to one of the ships. The captain-general, in a paroxysm 
of rage, ordered the officer commanding at blacq to be dismissed, 
and every Englishman in the island, without distinction, to be closely 
confined ; neither paroles of honour, nor sureties, nor permissions 
previously given to depart, being respected. Six were brought to 
the Garden Prison, of whom the captains Moffat and Henry from 
Pamplemousses were two, and their wives followed them. I he 
seamen and remaining officers from Flacq passed our gate under a 
strong guard, and were marched to an old hospital about one mile 
on the south-west side of the town ; where the seamen were shut up 
in the lower, and the officers in the upper apartment, there being 
only two rooms. 
The arrival of the squadron gave the prisoners a hope of 
being released, either from a general exchange, or lor such I H rench- 
men as our ships might take whilst cruising off the island; even 
Mr. Aken and myself, since our swords had been taken away, con- 
ceived some hopes, for we were then prisoners according to the de- 
finition of M. Neufville. There was, however, no intercourse with 
the squadron until the 19th, on which, and the two following days, a 
frigate was lying off the port with a flag of truce hoisted, and boats 
passed and repassed between her and the shore. Our anxiety to 
know the result was not a little ; and we soon learned that captain 
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