Lot n° 315
Estimation :
1500 - 2000
EUR
Result with fees
Result
: 1 945EUR
Jules DUMONT D'URVILLE. L.A.S., Rade de Toulon,... - Lot 315 - Ader
Jules DUMONT D'URVILLE. L.A.S., Rade de Toulon, on board the Suffren, April 5, 1811, to his cousin and childhood sweetheart Louise de Croisilles; 4 pages in-4, filled with a small tight handwriting.
Magnificent and long letter telling about his first naval combat, and about his life as a sailor. He expresses his joy that Louise's feelings finally match his own. Then he evokes his life as a sailor. "Since the last time I wrote to you, we have had a small skirmish with the enemy squadron, the details of which you may be pleased to learn. Having learned that two of our frigates, the Amélie and the Adrienne, coming from Genoa, were on their way to Toulon, our general had us sail with 13 ships and one frigate to help them enter and support them against the attacks of the enemy who could easily cut off their passage. We had set sail at 9 ½ am, at 10 am we saw our frigates; we were then two leagues from the enemy squadron, 14 ships strong, and five others five to six leagues away. One of their advanced ships threatened to cut off our frigates, but one of ours, which was within range of it, forced it to turn around. At 11 o'clock, the frigates had rallied us, so the head of the enemy was within range of us.
The fire started with our frigates, there were several broadsides sent by the advanced ships on both sides. But finally, just as we were about to start firing, the Englishman, leaving behind that character of audacity and even impudence which characterizes him at sea, abandoned us, took to the sea again and let us return quietly in good order. It is certain that if the English had wanted to, this affair could have become very bloody and perhaps decisive, but even though nearly 800 cannon shots were fired on both sides, the ships of both parties were evenly matched for slight damage. At least the French did not have anyone injured. I want to share with you a reflection which struck me at the time. In the midst of the roar of the cannon which was already rumbling on all sides, in the midst of the sinister preparations for battle, in spite of all my efforts to keep the necessary composure to carry out the orders appropriate to the circumstances, I could not defend myself from a secret feeling of joy, a kind of elation of which I was not in control. This position of mind surprised me, even distressed me, because I did not believe myself made for scenes of blood and carnage. Perhaps I would have changed my mind if the battle had been pushed further"... In rereading Louise's letters, he recalls their former complicity, the country walks they used to take together on the heights of Lalandelle. "One moment I thought I was still at your side, then you walked in front of me and I followed with my eyes the undulating folds of your dress, you preceded me on this narrow and muddy path [...] finally out of these places, here muddy, elsewhere sandy, we climbed together the height approaching the church and discovered Lalandelle entirely. Do you remember our wishes of fortune and our projects on the castle [...]. My greatest happiness, my very folly, is to go ashore far from the city, on a beach that juts out into the sea in the shape of a peninsula, to climb up to the top, and to sit on a steep rock. There, far from any habitation, quiet and free from any distraction, I give myself up to my reflections at leisure. At times, plunged into a deep reverie, I review the time spent near you and the various periods that relate to it: at other times I carefully reread each of your letters one after the other and I always end up by becoming insensitively tender [...] My deceived comrades attribute my love for solitude to misanthropy and to a passion for study. They are persuaded that the indifference which I affect for the women, I extend it without restriction on the whole sex. I leave them in their error and save myself from the jokes they would not fail to add to those which my way of thinking and my conduct attract to me. However, I have succeeded, and this is quite difficult, in attracting their friendship without following their tastes: I think I can even assure you that there is no one on board, from the commander to the last sailor, who does not sincerely wish me well. He recounts at length the memory that gave rise to his passion for her, when he had injured his foot along a river and she nursed him back to health and wanted to keep him at home... "I am going to end my epistle here, for a long time my comrades sleeping around me warn me that I must do the same, it is nearly half past one, I spent part of the night writing to you without even realizing it. One hears more than the silent sound of the sentinels' footsteps walking on the bridge mixed with that of the waves"...
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