[Extract]
A Versailles le 19 Juin 1778.
. . . Le Roi approuve que pour faciliter aux Anglois blessés provenant d’une prise faite par la frégate le Ranger,1 les moyens de retourner chez eux après avoir été gueris à l’hôpital, vous soyez convenu avec M. le Cte. d’Orvilliers de les faire embarquer sur la premiere frégate qui sera destinée pour St. Malo, d’où ils pourront se rendre en Angleterre. . . .2
de sartine
[Translation]
Versailles, 19 June 1778.
. . . The King approves that, to accommodate the wounded Englishmen from the prize taken by the frigate Ranger,1 you will confer with M. le Comte d’Orvilliers on the means of returning them after having been healed in the hospital and have them em barked aboard the first frigate bound for St. Malo, whence they will be able to depart for England. . . .2
L, FrBAPM, série 1E191, fol. 775. Notation: “X le 24”; translation: “Answered on the 24th.” The portions of the letter not printed concern administrative matters relating to the port of Brest.
1. For the capture of H.M. sloop Drake by Continental Navy ship Ranger, see Capt. John Paul Jones to the American Commissioners in France, 27 May, in NDAR 12: 755–61.
2. On 17 July, Sartine wrote De La Porte: “I approve that you and M. le Comte d’Orvilliers together have sent off . . . the Seven Englishmen coming from the prize taken by the United States frigate Ranger who, having been sent to the hospital, have become free.” FrBAPM, série 1E192, fols. 129–30.
