The Lost Fleet by Barry Clifford Page B

to piracy is the perfect pedigree for the swashbucklers of fiction.
    From an early age, de Grammont displayed all of the pride that came with being a member of French nobility. With his father gone, the young man considered himself head of the family, even if others did not necessarily consider him so.
    When de Grammont was in his early teens, his mother remarried. Her new husband, like de Grammont’s father, was a military officer.At some point after becoming de Grammont’s stepfather, he introduced de Grammont’s sister to a fellow officer, who he thought might make a suitable match.
    The young Chevalier did not agree. He felt his sister’s suitor was below the family’s station, and he made that opinion well known. His sister’s opinion of the suitor is unknown, but was probably considered inconsequential. Marriages among the French nobility were made on the basis of considerations other than those of the heart.
    To de Grammont, it was a matter of family honor. Once, when the Chevalier’s stepfather was not at home and the suitor came to call, de Grammont had the servants forcibly eject the man.
    Despite this insult, the suitor continued his courtship and continued to treat de Grammont like a child, making light of the Chevalier’s objections. To be thus dismissed must have been infuriating to the proud young man.
    It came to a head at last when de Grammont informed the officer that if he were a little older, they would cross swords. Far from being intimidated, the officer continued to mock the Chevalier until, in a fit of rage, de Grammont snatched up a sword and went for his tormentor.
    The young officer, not wishing to hurt his beloved’s brother, did no more than fend off the attack, but de Grammont was out for blood. Twice he managed to wound his adversary. Thrown off by the wounds and the intensity of de Grammont’s assault, the suitor failed to turn the final thrust aside. The Chevalier de Grammont delivered a fatal wound.
    Fatal, but not immediately so. De Grammont’s servants carried the dying officer away to his house, where he lingered on for two more days. The king sent a major of the Guards to visit the man to determine what had happened and who was guilty of this crime.
    Generously, the wounded officer explained that the fault was his, that he had provoked the affair and that it had been carried out with honor. Even more impressive, he sent the Chevalier de Grammont enough money for him to escape France rather than be tried for murder. Finally, he bequeathed to de Grammont’s sister, whom he would not live to marry, the sum of ten thousand livres.
    As it happened, between the officer’s deposition and the influence that the de Grammont family enjoyed in court, the Chevalier escaped banishment and complete disgrace. With the scandal hanging over his head, however, it was thought advisable for de Grammont to absenthimself from Paris, so he was given a commission in the Marine Regiment. In that service de Grammont first saw the West Indies.
    The Chevalier de Grammont was bold and fearless, and he served with distinction. After several years, he was given command of a frigate. Near Martinique he captured a Dutch convoy worth more than 400,000 livres. The prizes were taken to the French colony in Saint-Domingue (Haiti). De Grammont had to give up a goodly portion of the prize money to the king, but he did receive one-fifth, an enormous sum, as a first taste of the possibilities that sea robbery offered.
    Pirates were men apart from society. As such, many chose to engage in excess in all aspects of their lives. Though de Grammont was a reliable and capable officer, he seems also to have been a man who enjoyed a good time. Just eight days after coming ashore with his prize money, de Grammont found himself once again at sea, having in that short time blown nearly all of his newfound fortune on gambling, prostitutes, and other debauchery. Though he was still in the