 He sailed for ten years as a long-distance captain of the "Nina" (an old three-master captured from the British), mainly between Le Havre and Martinique.He gave up sea-service for good in 1828, landing in Le Havre, where he was immediately approached by Stanislas Faure, manager of the "Journal du Havre" newspaper, and asked to become its editor, a post he held until 1839 and for which he wrote until 1843.Under his leadership this daily newspaper rose from a tiny advertisements sheet into a first-rank organ for commercial and maritime information.