Page:Voyage in search of La Perouse, volume 1 (Stockdale).djvu/47

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Sept.]
OF LA PEROUSE.
37

On the 29th, our Commander Dentrecaſteaux was informed, by diſpatches which he had orders not to open before we were in the main ſea, that Major Huon Kermandec, Commander of the Eſperance, was advanced to the rank of poſt-captain (capitaine de vaiſſeau), and himſelf to that of rear-admiral (contre-amiral). This intelligence was immediately conveyed by the ſpeaking-trumpet to the Eſperance, and our flags were hoiſted with the diſtinctive enſigns of the rank conferred upon the Commander.

We again diſcovered two marines, and a cabin-boy, who were not inrolled among our crew, and had kept themſelves till now concealed in the ſhip. As we were already too far from the land to ſet them on ſhore, the Commander permitted them to accompany us on our expedition.

Having made ſeveral ſea-voyages before the preſent, I had flattered myſelf that I was too ſeaſoned a ſailor to be any more incommoded by the motion of the veſſel; but I found that I had already entirely loſt this qualification, for I was ſea-ſick during the firſt three days after our ſailing from Breſt. I have had frequent opportunities in the courſe of this voyage of remarking, that a very ſhort ſtay upon ſhore is ſufficient to render me anew ſuſceptible of ſickneſs from the mo-

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