To secure at this time the necessary passports for their young men no doubt taxed all the resources of the elder Audubon; Rozier's, said the naturalist, was written in Dutch, of which he did not understand a single word, while his own letter stated that he was born in New Orleans. These subterfuges worked so well that the inspection officer, after reading Audubon's paper, promptly offered him his congratulations, adding that he would be only too glad to leave his unhappy country under as favorable conditions. Audubon and Rozier sailed from Nantes on Saturday, April 12, 1806, on the ship _Polly_, Captain Sammis, but they did not land in New York until Tuesday, May 28, after a perilous voyage of nearly eight weeks. A fortnight had been passed at sea when they sighted a suspicious looking vessel which immediately gave chase, fired several shots across their bows, and compelled the captain to heave to and submit to being boarded and searched. This proved to be an English privateer, named the _Rattlesnake_. She was rather considerate for a British cruiser of the period, for she merely impressed two of their best seamen and robbed them of their provisions, carrying off, said Audubon, all of their "pigs, sheep, coffee and wine,"[114] in spite of loud remonstrances of the captain and of an American Congressman who happened to be among the passengers. "The _Rattlesnake_," 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 American seamen, that, in short, they were even more unwelcome 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 experienced, 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 Captain Sammis amounting to 525 livres, or $125,[115] was entered, 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. CHAPTER X "LA GERBETIÈRE" OF YESTERDAY AND TODAY Home of Audubon's youth at Couëron—Its situation on the Loire—History of the villa and commune—Changes of a century.