The more facts I find on this guy I am just amazed. Especially about the fact that his nephew was a General in Napoleon Bonaparte's Army and then Napoleon's older Brother Joseph Bonaparte came and lived practically right down the road from Garoutte in 1812/1815ish.
Edit: his nephew was a General in the French Revolution, not a General in Napoleon's Army. D'Espinassy was General of Brigade and gave the enemy hell in numerous battles of the French Revolution.
What kind of things would that imply? I mean c'mon! I've even read La Fayette was Garoutte's guest about the same time La Fayette went to Joseph Bonaparte's Mansion in South Jersey.
There's something very interesting about all this!
I wish I could find out what the British did with that ship Saint Simon after they captured it in 1757.
Edit: because I have seriously considered the scenario that The Saint Simon was captured back by the US Navy from the British during the revolutionary war.
And here is my reasoning on that. The Admiralty Foundation Register in Marseille, France has a whole big fat book of births and departures and their records say Antoine Garoutte was ordered by King Louis the 15th in 1753 to set sail for san domingue and the name of the ship was Great Saint Simon.
Ok well guess what? A french colony in canada named Saint Simon traces their history back to 1757 and they named the town after a French War Ship named Great Saint Simon. Two books detail the event.
One book claims the British Fleet captured the ship, killing the Captain just after the crew dumped all the cargo into the inlet and buried a bunch of the cargo into the ground.
But then again 1753 to 1757 is 4 years. Would Admiral Antoine Garoutte have been at sea for 4 years? San Domingue is far away from Canada but both were French Colonies. Clearly it's the same ship, but was Garoutte still commanding it by 1757?
What did the British do with the ship. That's what I'd like to know. How could I even find out??