Tartu was born to a family of fishers [REF].
In December 1779, Fortunée sailed in consort with the 32-gun Blanche, under La Galissonière,[REF] and the 20-gun corvette Ellis,[REF] under Captain Fonteneau,[REF] to ferry troops that had fought in the Siege of Savannah back to various French colonies of the Caribbean [REF].