“In the course of a few hours, as we approached St. Brieux, we had from the top of a very high hill, a view of the deep blue sea, of the English channel. The effect of this sight upon persons in our situation may be easier conceived than described; after being shut up for three years and a half in the interior of France, a far longer period than I had ever before been separated from my favourite element. Cheers from each denoted the general joy of the little party at again beholding what we all regarded as our country’s own domain. On our arrival at St. Brieux, we met another detachment of English prisoners, but they were officers on parole. The two parties, the one on their way home, the other beginning captivity, met together at the table d’hôte; and notwithstanding these adverse circumstances on the one side, the meeting was gratifying to both. I was again enabled through Messrs. Peregaux to supply each officer with the means of performing his long journey with comparative comfort. “As we left the land the wind freshened, and a heavy sea got up. The French sailors who had been very earnest in offering their services to the ladies, and had even given their respective names, that they might be called upon when wanted, were the first to be prostrated by sea sickness, the whole eleven men without exception. The Captain alone was unaffected by the motion of his vessel; and on my suggesting to him the necessity of the topsail being reefed, as the wind increased, he shrugged his shoulders with the usual phrase of ‘impossible.’ He however admitted the necessity of something being done, and having requested me to take the helm, he managed to lower the topsails on the cap, and as the wind was well aft, the vessel was able to bear it, and we two shared the helm between us for that day. In the middle of the ensuing night we had got over under the Start point, and the wind having got more to the westward, we found shelter there until daylight; when a beautiful day broke upon us, and enabled us to reach Dartmouth by eight o’clock in the morning. Thus ended our captivity on the 29th of December, 1806, having commenced on the 3rd July, 1803.