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The Raft of the "Medusa" by Théodore Géricault
In 1816 the new Bourbon government of France sent a small fleet to officially receive the British handover of the port of St.Louis in Senegal to France. The fleet consisted of four ships; the Loire, the brig Argus, the Echo and the Medusa. Medusa was to carry the passengers, including the appointed French governor of Senegal, Colonel Julien-Désire Schmaltz and his wife Reine Schmaltz. In addition there were a total of 400 passengers, including 160 of the crew.
The French Ministry of the Marine made the mistake of appointing inexperienced Frigate-Captain Hugues Duroy de Chaumereys to lead the fleet. He had mainly worked as a customs officer more than twenty years previously and had worked against Napoleon. His crew did not particularly appreciate him, because they had served with Napoleon during his reign.
The fleet left Paris on June 17. Medusa sailed quickly away before the rest of the fleet. On July 17, it ran aground in shallow water off the west coast of Africa on the Arguin Bank .
At first the crew tried to release her by throwing heavy items overboard, but de Chaumereys stopped the effort. Eventually he decided to abandon ship. Because there were only 6 lifeboats, he made a raft out of masts and crossbeams to carry the rest of the crew. Dignitaries - 250 of them - took the lifeboats and attempted to tow the raft. The raft was too flimsy to keep all the rest - 149 men and one woman - afloat. Seventeen men decided to stay on Medusa. The rest were left with no food and water to speak of.
Those in lifeboats soon noticed that the idea of towing the raft was impractical. De Chaumereys decided to cut the rope and leave the rest of the crew to its fate, four miles (6 km) off shore.
On the raft, the situation deteriorated rapidly. Men began to throw wine and flour out of spite and fight among themselves. On the first night 20 men--whites and Africans, soldiers and officers--were killed or committed suicide. Rations dwindled ever more rapidly and on the fourth day some on the raft resorted to cannibalismCannibalism is the act or practice of eating members of the same species, e. humans eating humans (sometimes called anthropophagy), or dogs eating dogs. Among humans, this practice has been attributed to people in the past all over the world, including ri. On the eighth day, the fittest began throwing the weak and wounded overboard.
Thirteen days later, when Argus found almost by accident, there were only 15 survivors remaining. Argus took them to St Louis to recover. Five of the survivors, including Jean Charles, the last African crew member, died within days. Three of the seventeen men that had decided to stay on the Medusa were later recovered alive. British naval officers helped the survivors to return to France because aid from the French Minister of the Marine was not forthcoming.
Medusas surviving surgeon Henri Savigny submitted his account to the authorities. It was leaked to an anti-Bourbon newspaper, the Journal des debats, and appeared on September 13September 13 is the 256th day of the year (257th in leap years). There are 109 days remaining in the year. Events 533 Belisarius and the Roman Empire defeat Gelimer and the Vandals at the Battle of Ad Decimium. 1440 Gilles de Rais is taken into custody up, 1816. The matter became a scandal embroiled in French internal politics and officials tried to cover it up. De Chaumereys was acquitted in the court martial.
Savigny and ship's geographer Alexander Coerrérd released their own account (Naufrage de la frégate la Méduse) of the incident in 1817. It went through five editions by 1821 and was also published in an English translation. Artist Théodore Géricault decided to make a painting based of the incident and contacted the writers in 18181818 is a common year starting on Thursday. Events February 12 Chile gains its independence from Spain March 11 Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is published March 22 Easter Sunday falls on its earliest possible date. The next time Easter will fall this early:. The painting first appeared in the Paris SalonThe Paris Salon ( French: Salon de Paris is an institution in art society, founded in Paris, France in 1673 to exhibit art works, particularly paintings. It was intended to focus on those who were graduates of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, which was created b in 1819 and was a sensation. It currently resides in the Louvre.
