Versailles, 15 July 1778. printed: JA, Diary and Autobiography , 4:161–162 (JA's English translation). For the French text, see Adams Papers, Microfilms, Reel No. 94. Sartine's letter concerned James Niggins and John Selby, prisoners at Nantes, who claimed to be American seamen pressed into service on an English privateer after the capture of their vessel, the ship Hancock. Sartine wished to know if the two men were known to the Commissioners as Americans and thus deserving of release.