We were discussing the fate of the Serapis.
I know I misread it.
Sometime later, the French navy commissioned Serapis, under Captain Roche, to assist in a campaign to wrest India from British rule. Roche proceeded to the French fort Isle Ste. Marie, located off the northern coast of Madagascar. While Roche was ashore, a lieutenant and a subordinate went below deck to obtain the daily brandy ration for the sailors. While the men were “cutting” the brandy’s full strength with water, their lantern fell into the vat and set the spirit locker on fire. Attempts to extinguish the blaze failed and after two-and-a-half hours, the flames burned through the locker walls and reached the powder magazine. An explosion blew out the stern and the vessel sank.
The vagaries of time and sea had all but erased the whereabouts of the Serapis until it was discovered in November 1999 by American nautical archaeologist, Richard Swete and his associate Michael Tuttle. After years of research and a systematic magnetometer survey of the harbor on Isle Ste. Marie, Swete and a team of archaeologists discovered the remains of Serapis.