Hello Karen Welcome to the list. What an interesting letter - where did you get it? A quick search of the National Archive database found one reference to an Abraham Moulton. This could be him... MEMORIALS RECEIVED. ABRAHAM MOULTON. REQUEST TO REMAIN IN THE COLONY. 1822 You will have to request this document from the Archives or engage the services of a private researcher to access it for you. The latter is probably going to be the quickest as the staff at the archives are under pressure at the moment. I also had a look at Malcolm Turner's excellent book called "Shipwrecks & Salvage" for the period 1829 - 1834 for any wrecks which might fit. (I am assuming that the ship departed from Cape Town). There was only one French ship wrecked on the 12th April 1829 - the "L'Eole" - 48kms south west of Bashee River which is on the East coast of South Africa (north of East London) - according to what he says in the letter they were wrecked about 18 days (out of Cape Town) on their way to Bordeaux so this is the wrong coast I'm afraid. The only other French ship wrecked was "L'Aigle" at Slangkop on the Cape Peninsula. 700 miles (about 1126km) would have put them far North of Cape Town - up the West Coast into what is now called Namibia and would have been a very difficult journey through semi desert. Does he say anything else about the journey at all - maybe we can pick up some more clues Regards Sharon Warr South African Genealogy - Lots of links, passenger lists, Immigrants and more - www.sagenealogy.co.za Scribes Publishing - South African historical resources on CD www.sagenealogy.co.za/scribes.htm