ABSTRACT
Labat and Père Cabasson, the Superior-General of the Jacobin missions, left Martinique on the 26th November 1700 to investigate the affairs of the mission in San Domingo which had been badly mismanaged. They sailed in a ship loaded with a cargo of wine from Bordeaux, commanded by a man called Trebuchet, who was “a little drunkard never in his right mind after he had been drinking, and unfortunately never sober a few hours after he had got up in the morning”. They landed at St. Kitts on the 28th, and called on the Governor, M. de Comte de Gennes, and “I took a little walk in the evening through the suburbs of the town. From the ruins of this town it appears that it was well built and of considerable size, but the English have completely destroyed it, and have even taken away the squared corner stones of the houses. The French, however, have already rebuilt many houses, and are re-establishing themselves as if assured of an everlasting peace.”
