The bill of sale of _Le Comte d'Artois_ was drawn on February 21, 1779, when Jean Audubon appeared "before the notaries of the king in the seneschal's court of Saint Louis," and was described as "resident at Les Cayes, opposite the Isle à Vaches." The document, which in my copy is incomplete, reads in part as follows: "The present M. Jean Audubon, captain-commander of the ship _Le Comte d'Artois_, of Nantes, armed for war and now laden with merchandise, anchored in this roadstead of Les Cayes, dispatched, and at the point of departure for France; armed by the Messrs. Coirond Brothers, merchants at the said city of Nantes, acting in his own name as one interested in the armament and cargo of the vessel, as well as in his capacity as captain; [he] acting as much also for the said furnishers of arms as for the others interested in the said armaments, and the merchandise, which will be hereafter mentioned, in consideration of the rights of each, promises to have these presents accepted and approved in due time; which said person, appearing in said names, in the quality aforesaid, by these presents has sold, ceded, given up, transferred, and relinquished all his legal rights in the aforesaid ship, to the business-associates Lacroix, Formon de Boisclair & Jacques, three merchants in partnership, living in this town, purchasers conjointly and severally, for themselves and the assigns of each, to the extent of one third; To wit: the said ship _Le Comte d'Artois_, of the said port of Nantes, of about two hundred and fifty tons, at present anchored in this roadstead of Les Cayes, dispatched, and at the point of departure for France, with all its rigging, outfit, and dependences, which consist among other things of two sets of sail, complete, and newly fitted out, all the tools, and the reserve sets of these, with the munitions of war, consisting of ten cannon, four of them mounted on gun carriages, and all that goes with them...." (Translated from the French original in possession of Monsieur Lavigne.) [24] The fact that Captain Audubon did not accompany Rochambeau's fleet which assembled at Brest in April, 1780, and reached Newport in mid-July, may account for the omission of his name from the lists that have been recently published. See _Les Combattants François de la Guerre Américaine_, 1778-1783 (Paris, 1903). [25] Others interested in this vessel were Messrs. David Ross & Company, with whom Captain Audubon later had financial difficulties (see Chapter VIII). [26] See letter to Dacosta, Vol. I, p. 121.