[page 10]


6.

6.

On the 14th[13], favorable winds from the north that were much appreciated by our sailors.

Den 14ten guten Wind von nördlicher Seite, welcher sehr bey unseren Seefahrer beliebt ware.

On the 5th, good winds remain. On the 6th we had a bit of fog in the morning until 10 or 11 o’clock.

Den 5ten als noch guten Wind. Den 6ten hatten wir etwas Nebel vormittag biß 10.11 Uhr.

On the 10th, we passed near Bordeaux, a city in France in the Gascogne province[14].

Den 10ten passierten wir die Höhe von Bordaux, eine Stadt in Franckreich in der Profintz Casconien.

On the 11th, the horizon was very misty and the winds rather strong. Around noon we were surprised by a sudden storm, so much so that we hardly had time to bring the sails in; the storm developed more hour by hour and it was already shifting us toward the Spanish coasts! This storm was so strong that for those of us who had never been at sea, it was something dreadful. Because the sea was creating waves so high that one would believe they could cover the high Spanish cliffs! Each man kept in his corner, some here and some there, like frightened chickens.

Den 11ten zeigte sich der Horizont sehr neblicht, und mit etwas starckem Wind. Gegen Mittag überfiele uns ein plötzlicher Sturm, daß wir fast nicht Zeit hatten unsre Seegel aufzuziehen, der Sturm nahm von Stund zu Stund mehr zu, daß er uns schon starck gegen den spannischen Küsten zu warffe ! Dieser Sturm erhube sich so starck daß es vor uns Leute die noch niemals auf der See gewesen erbärmliche ware. Dan das Meer erzeigte sich mit so hohen Wellen daß man glaubte daß höhe spannische Ge-bürg damit zu bedecken ! Einer stunde hier der andre dort, in den Ecken herum, wie die verjagte Hüner.

Some held onto barrels that were all over the ship, others onto crates, and others still onto all sorts of equipment found on the deck, just to remain upright, the ship was pitching so. Then a new wave crashed down and knocked us down, such that during the storm we were, so to speak, dead for half the time.

Einige hielten sich an den Fäßern so auf dem Schiff herum stunden die andren an den Küsten, die andern an sonst dergleichen Geräthe so auf der Brücken ware, nur um vest zu stehen vor dem Hin-und-her-Wanken des Schiffs; biß als entlich wiedrum eine braussende Welle kame und uns davon schluge, item wir waren die halbe Zeit bey diesem Sturm wie todt.

And so the sailors set about consoling us and saying that we would have to endure this difficult life for 3 or 4 weeks, the length of the voyage[15].

Also fingen die Matrossen an uns zu trösten und sagten 3 oder 4 Wochen lang so müßten herum

[réclame]

fahren

https://gallica.bnf.fr/iiif/ark:/12148/btv1b10110846m/f6/pct:0,0,50,100/,700/0/native.jpg

Strasbourg, Médiathèque André Malraux, ms f 15, p. 10.

[agrandir]


 Notes

13. The fourth of the month of May 1780.
14. This sort of comment makes one think of pieces of information that introduce the forewords in geographical dictionaries, where we find the area’s position and some indication of its identity, here the link between a city and its province. As it is the case at multiple times in Flohr’s voyage, we are under the impression that he is looking at a map and that he attaches himself to spatial landmarks to describe the maritime itinerary of his regiment.
15. Three to four weeks were actually necessary to reach the Caribbean West Indies via the southern route in the eighteenth century. The flotilla left on May 2, 1780 from Brest and arrived in Newport, Rhode Island on July 11th via the southern route that was “the longest, that of trade ships”. See Raymond Bourgerie, Pierre Lesouef, Yorktown 1781, La France offre l’indépendance à l’Amérique, Campagnes et Stratégies collection, Economica, Paris, 1992, p. 35. Admiral Ternay wanted to avoid English fleets. In his diary on page 20, Claude Blanchard notes: “it seemed that this route so far to the south had been indicated by the court in order to avoid the English”. The choice to take the longest but safest route as well as the destination being so far account for the fact that the crossing lasted 72 days.