Diary of John Quincy Adams, volume 1

24th.

30th.

28th. JQA 28th. Adams, John Quincy
28th.

Fine Wind, and good weather. We have for several days run between 40 and 50 leagues every day. In the evening we spoke to an american brig from New London, bound to Santa Cruce1 loaded with horses. Her Longitude, was 55 from the meridian of London. Ours was 56d. 30m. from that of Paris, so that the difference was very small. We saw another vessel to day, and a sail yesterday, but at a considerable distance.

Mr. Fontfreyde,2 is a frenchman by birth, but he has pass'd several years in America; and he is settled at Albany. He was formerly an officer in the french army. All things considered I believe this gentleman is the most accomplished person on board. His manners are very soft and agreeable. He has received a very good education, and to the Complaisance natural to all the French Nation, his knowledge, of the world has united a Candour, which is not so often to be found among them. 36 years have tempered the vivacity of his youth, and though a person of the strictest honour he has a character of the most pacific kind. In short if all the officers and passengers on board were like this gentleman, the passage would have appeared, much shorter, and much more agreeable to me.

1.

Probably Saint Croix, also known as Santa Cruz, the largest of the Virgin Islands.

2.

Probably John (Jean Baptiste?) Fontfreyde, a merchant who purchased a freedom from the corporation of Albany in 1781, that is, his right to the privileges of the town (Joel Munsell, The Annals of Albany, 10 vols., Albany, N.Y., 1850–1859, 10:153; Lasseray, Les français sous les treize étoiles , 1:218).