The period from 1766 to 1768 was occupied in four voyages to Newfoundland, probably in the interest of the codfish trade, first as sailor before the mast in _Le Printemps_, and then as lieutenant in a ship called also _La Marianne_, with alternate sailings from, and to, La Rochelle and Les Sables d'Olonne. On his third voyage to Newfoundland, which was made in 1767, when he was twenty-three years old, Jean Audubon ranked as lieutenant of his vessel, but in the summer of 1768 he shipped again from Les Sables as sailor before the mast for a short trading cruise on the coast of France; in this instance the vessel, called _Le Propre_, was captained by Pierre Martin, who was possibly an uncle. At this juncture Jean Audubon enlisted in the French navy (service for the State) as a common sailor, and made two voyages on governmental business from the port of Rochefort, serving altogether nearly nine months (1768-9). After the termination of this last engagement nothing is heard of Jean for over a year, when in 1770 he makes his first appearance at Nantes, the city that was to know him in many capacities for nearly half a century. There he reëntered the merchant marine, and on November 1, 1770, began a series of eight voyages, lasting as many years, to the island of Santo Domingo, the western section of which was then in possession of France. Since much of the mystery which hitherto has shrouded the early life of John James Audubon is involved in the West Indian period of his father's career, we shall now trace this history in considerable detail. The great export trade of French Santo Domingo in those days was in brown and white sugar, then known as the "Muscovado" and "clayed" sorts, which for the year 1789 amounted to over 141,000,000 pounds, valued at more than 122,000,000 francs; and in coffee, which in the same year totaled nearly 77,000,000 pounds, estimated to be worth nearly 52,000,000 francs.[20] While all such estimates were no doubt very crude, they serve to illustrate the richness of the prize that attracted Frenchmen by hundreds to the colony, an island that to many seemed a paradise in prospect, but which proved to be a purgatory in disguise.