"Finding myself so far from land," says Kerguelen, "I reflected upon the best course to be pursued. I remembered that the state of my mast was too bad to allow me to crowd sail, and leave the coast, and that, having no sloop to carry my anchors, I was exposed to extreme danger whilst near the shore, that in the dense fog it was all but impossible to find the _Gros-ventre_, from which I had been separated for several days. It was the more difficult on account of the tempest we had experienced, and the variable winds that prevailed. These reflections and my conviction that the _Gros-ventre_ was an excellent sailer, and that she was provisioned for seven months, determined me to return to Mauritius, which I reached upon the 16th of March." Fortunately no accident had happened to the _Gros-ventre_. Her boat had returned in time; M. de Boisguehenneuc, who had landed, had taken possession of the land with all the usual formalities, and left some writing in a bottle, which was found by Captain Cook in 1776. Kerguelen returned to France, but his successful enterprise had gained him many enemies. When upon the 1st of January, 1772, the king nominated him captain, and Chevalier de Saint Louis, the attacks upon him increased. The most malignant slanders were circulated. They even went the length of accusing him of having scuttled the _Gros-ventre_ in order to derive all the benefit accruing from the discovery which he had made in concert with M. de Saint Allouarn. The minister, however, was not influenced by these slanders, and decided to entrust the command of a second expedition to Kerguelen. The _Roland_, and the frigate _Oiseau_, left Brest upon the 26th of March, 1772, the latter under command of M. de Saux de Rosnevet. Upon reaching the Cape, Kerguelen was obliged to put in for forty days. The entire crew was suffering from putrid fever, probably owing to the dampness of the new vessel. "This appeared the more probable," says the narrative, "because all the dried vegetables, such as peas, beans, lentils, &c., together with the rice, and a quantity of biscuits, were spoiled in the store-room. The vegetables emitted a kind of steam which was infectious, and the store-rooms became infested with numbers of white worms. The _Roland_ left the Cape upon the 11th of July, but she was almost immediately overtaken by a frightful tempest, which carried away two topsails, the jib, and the mizen mast. Finally Mauritius was reached by means of jury-masts."