Page:A French Volunteer of the War of Independence.djvu/145

Rh drew up an official report of the incident; and the command of the vessel was given to the first officer.

Under the direction of the new captain, we made a good passage, and disembarked at the end of ten or twelve days. Our course of action (in deposing the captain) was approved by the authorities at Boston. Such was the end of Captain Landais, the rival of Paul Jones—as far as my knowledge of him is concerned, at all events, for I never heard what became of him afterwards.

I hastened to rejoin the American army, which three weeks after my arrival, marched for Virginia.

This was in 1780. The little army of Comte de Rochambeau was blockaded in Rhode Island, where it had disembarked about the middle of the year. It was powerless to undertake any decisive action until the arrival of the French fleet.

It was not till 1781, almost a year after the landing, that the fleet under Comte de Grasse entered Chesapeake Bay. Dur-