A sketch of l'Uranie anchored off New Guinea in 1818

On board Uranie they have managed to put out the fire, although not until  after Louis suffered a nasty burn to his hand. Full of fear for his safety, Rose tried to reach him, but so many men had crowded around him, just as anxious as he was to save the ship, that she could only stand and watch. Louis finally agreed to let the doctor treat his injury but Rose had to wait in her cabin, pacing impatiently, for news of his condition to be sent to her.

When Jose arrived for his lesson the next day Rose was still not entirely relaxed. But our crafty Mauritian boy persuaded her to tell him how she managed to board the ship, in full view of the officers and crew, and remain on board until Uranie was well out to sea. In those days, without radio, radar, GPS, satellites and even reliable charts, once a ship had left port it was out of reach of everyone. On the vast oceans even chance encounters with other ships at sea were rare.