Naufrage de la frégate la Meduse faisant partie de l'expedition du Senegal, en 1816.

£3,250 · Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd

A lovely copy of the first edition, signed by both authors on the verso of the title-page . Jean-Baptiste-Henry Savigny (1793-1843), born in Rochefort and a naval surgeon, was one of the fifteen survivors of the wreck. He was second surgeon (assistant to the surgeon-major Follet) and escaped the disaster. Alexandre Correard, another survivor and co-author of this book, was an ingenieur geographe . The Meduse departed for Saint-Louis, Senegal, in 1816 with a complement of soldiers to re-establish French control. Poor navigation on the part of the captain saw her struck the Bank of Arguin off the coast of Mauritania. There were insufficient life-boats for the 400 passengers and so a raft was constructed for the 146 people who remained. The raft measured roughly 21 by 6 metres and was constructed from the Meduse ’s mast and beams. “After setting sail, however, an officer aboard territorial governor Schmaltz’s lifeboat used a hatchet to cut the rope that was towing the unwieldy raft. The remaining lifeboats did not come to the raft’s rescue and sailed on toward Senegal. Approximately 150 souls were left adrift upon a rickety floating platform with only a meager supply of wine and water. The paltry foodstuffs and coin-sized compass they originally brought onboard were lost at sea within the first day. For the next 13 days, horrors of every kind beset the raft, which was initially so overloaded that its passengers, packed together like sardines, sat in waist-high water. Violent win

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.