Damas to the minister of the Navy, 1787

TASK: take a partial decipherment further: Damas to the minister of the Navy, 1787
This page: https://dbourdeau.github.io/cyphersolver/further/damas1787.html

You are helping a public research project finish reading historical cipher letters. This one is read in part:
the key works, but some pieces are still open. Your job is to close one or more of the open gaps below.

THE READING
  Write-up:   https://dbourdeau.github.io/cyphersolver/damas1787.html (read it first: how the text was read, the key, the reading)
  Date:       1787
  Outcome:    known key applied · partial
  Read now:   94.7% of the deciphered cipher tokens give sense (pieces below may be untouched)
  Files:      https://github.com/dbourdeau/cyphersolver/tree/main/targets/damas1787 (NOTES.md, key, transcription, reading, scripts)

OPEN GAPS (from NOTES.md, "## Remaining gaps")
  1. [no-key-material: needs a new source] Codes 269, 464, 686 and 190 (4 words, each once) - blocker: no-key-material; not glossed in the K6 key (464 = "ar" in a 1779 gloss gives no sense here)
  2. [no-key-material: needs a new source] The 12 words restored from the sense (guerre 300, Angleterre 741, tant 762, d' 808, lieu 644, et 244 four times, chacune 493.e, Tabago 831 twice) - blocker: no-key-material; the numbers are not attested in K6 and are forced by the syntax

ALREADY TRIED (from NOTES.md, "## Escalation")
  [x] siblings: the neighbouring leaves of COL C8 B 16 (the store return of 1 November and Foulquier's letter of 12 November) are in clear; no decipherment on the images or the neighbouring leaves
  [x] clear-pages: same leaves; nothing that deciphers the cipher part
  [x] known-keys: the margin names the "Chiffre du 25 avril 1778"; K6 of targets/bouille1778 covers 92% of the groups and was validated on Bouillé no. 415 (0.894 of words)
  [x] print: web search 7 Nov 2026 for a printed or online decipherment of this letter (ANOM COL C8 B 16 no. 61, 2 Nov 1787): nothing; the only Damas hits concern 1790-91; not in DECODE (not in the catalogue)
  [x] key-rebuild: 7 Nov 2026, every key table of this cipher in the repository was searched for the 16 open numbers (bouille1778, grassebouille1779, martinique1778). 269, 686 and 190 have no value anywhere; 464 = ar gives no sense here; 493 = chacun is attested only from the sense of 'cent chacun' in the Grasse-Bouille letter, not from a gloss, so chacune stays restored; 300, 741 and 831 have values only in grassebouille1779's code M, a different cipher; 762 is itself unresolved in martinique1778 f. 19. No restored word could be raised to probable
  [x] retry: nothing to retry with: the cross-check above gives the unread groups no new value, so the count stays at 286 of 302 (94.7%), one word short of the 95% bar

STEPS
0. Set up. If you can run a shell, fork and clone the repository and work inside it:
     git clone https://github.com/dbourdeau/cyphersolver.git
   Then read, in this order: CONTRIBUTING.md (how a contribution is sent and credited); README.md, sections
   "Repository layout" and "Conventions" (how readings are measured and named); targets/damas1787/NOTES.md in full, and the
   key, transcription and reading files it names; lang/README.md (shared language models).
   Work in targets/damas1787/. Add your findings to NOTES.md under a dated heading without rewriting what is there, and
   update the "## Remaining gaps" line of every gap you close. Keep WORKLOG.md there: one dated line per step
   (hypothesis, value tried, solver run, crib, control), failures included. Do not edit docs/ (the site is generated).
   If you cannot run a shell, fetch the files from the links above and keep your work in files you send with the issue.
1. Pick a gap. Start with the ones marked "doable now" (open-codes, not-attempted, left-open): the images and the key
   are online, so they need only work. A gap marked "needs a new source" (no-key-material, too-short, illegible,
   needs-physical-access) can be closed only by something new: a key
   or a deciphered sibling found elsewhere, a better image, a printed edition or calendar, a photograph from the archive.
   For those, search for that material first, and say where you looked even when you find nothing.
2. Start from the existing key and transcription in the folder. Do not rebuild the key from scratch, and do not
   re-read parts that are already read unless you find an error in them.
3. For a code group or sign value: list every place the group occurs, show how each reads with the value you propose,
   and say what still does not fit. For a passage: re-read it at the image and give the folio and line. For a missing
   letter or leaf: say where it is held and how it can be reached.
4. Measure again. Apply the key to the whole text, write the reading file, and count the share of cipher tokens that
   give sense (not an estimate). The reading is "complete" only when (1) at least 95% of its cipher tokens give sense;
   (2) no gap is left untried; (3) every letter in it is covered; (4) what stays open is scattered code groups or names,
   or pieces blocked from outside. Otherwise it stays "partial": say which gaps are still open and why.
5. Be honest. Mark every uncertain word with [?], leave unread groups as their numbers or signs, and never fill a gap
   with a plausible guess. A gap retried and still open, with what was ruled out, is worth reporting.

REPORT BACK
With a clone: open a pull request with your changes to targets/damas1787/. Say in the description which gaps you worked on,
  the share read before and after, and how you want to be credited (name, initials or handle, and a link).
Without one: open an issue: https://github.com/dbourdeau/cyphersolver/issues/new?template=further-reading.yml&title=Further+reading%3A+damas1787&page=damas1787.html
  Give the write-up, the gap you worked on (its line in Remaining gaps, or the code group, folio and line), what you
  propose, the evidence (every occurrence, the images or sources), the share read before and after, your step log,
  and the tools and AI model you used.
If you cannot open issues or pull requests, write this report for your human to send. Credit goes to the person who sends it.