ADVENTURES OF MADAME DENOYER. 221 
mate, could not be prevailed upon to tell that part which sole- 
ly related to himself: but when the truth was out, and his 
messmate had done ample justice to the heroic act, they both 
burst into tears in the court, and ran into each other's arms. 
There was not a man in that court, either as captain or crew, 
who did not show how quickly the feelings of sailors can be 
touched, and how alive they are to recording a generous and 
manly act. 
The survivors were both strongly recommended for promo- 
tion, and the recommendation was not in vain — a few short 
months saw them warrant-officers ; and when I left that sta- 
tion some years afterward, these two men had gained the con- 
fidence and esteem of their commanding-officers, who found 
them sober, attentive, and alert in doing their duties. And thus 
it sometimes happens that the most unfortunate circumstances 
are the best roads to promotion and contentment. 
ADVENTURES OF MADAME DENOYER, 
Who loas turned adrift in a boat, in the open sea, between the 
Bahama Islands and Cuba, in 1766. 
The distressing situation to which Madame Denoyer, a 
courageous and unfortunate Creole of Cape Francois, in St. 
Domingo, was reduced, must affect every tender and virtuous 
mind. Her narrative shows into what excesses the base de- 
sire of gain is sometimes capable of leading men. 
M. Denoyer, an inhabitant of Cape Francois, where he had 
gained universal esteem, with a view to improve his circum- 
stances, formed the design of settling in Samana, a bay in. 
the portion of St. Domingo, then belonging to Spain. This in- 
tention he communicated to his wife, by whom it was ap- 
proved of 
After residing a year at Samana, Madame Denoyer re- 
quested her husband to return to Cape Francois, where her 
native air was more favorable to her health. M. Denoyer 
was too fond of his wife not to comply with her desire. They 
accordingly embarked in a small vessel belonging to them, 
with a child seven years old, another at the breast, and a fe- 
male negro servant, named Catharine. While they were 
preparing for the voyage an English vessel was lost upon the 
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