PEVRIEU (elder) - Lot 215

PEVRIEU (elder) French port lieutenant during the Revolution. P.S. "Pevrieu L.t de port". Bordeaux, 18 messidor an II [July 6, 1794], 1 large folio page on blue-gray laid paper with "J. Bassuet" watermark. Important letter addressed to a people's representative concerning Captain Pevrieu, former commander of the Pomone, who was taken prisoner in England after being seriously wounded in battle. The port lieutenant recalls the dramatic situation of "la Citoyenne Pevrieu", the captain's wife, who is responsible for "four small children", and requests the representative's support in obtaining help and protection for her. He also informs his correspondent that his brother "survives seven wounds he received in battle" and is being held at "Peterzfield, eight leagues from Portemouth [Portsmouth]". In order to support himself, Pevrieu announces that he has sent "a letter of credit" and specifies that he has taken "the liberty of addressing to Citizen Robespierre, Representative of the People" a request to be forwarded to the Comité de Salut Public. A particularly moving and historically evocative document, combining family concerns, wartime captivity and revolutionary administration at the heart of the Terror. The mention of Robespierre is of great interest: the letter is dated 18 Messidor An II, just a few weeks before Robespierre's fall and execution on the following 10 Thermidor. A fine piece of revolutionary seafaring, entirely autographed, preserved on large watermarked laid paper.