Archaeology Magazine - September/October 2014 - 48

had captained an underwater research
vessel in the late 1970s, and upon his
July 31, 1761, Jean
de Lafargue, captain
retirement in the early 1980s founded
of the French East
the Naval Archaeology Research Group
India Company ship
(known by its French acronym, GRAN),
L'Utile ("Useful"), was
which has since studied dozens of postAfrica
likely thinking of riches. In the ship's
medieval shipwrecks. He heard the
hold were approximately 160 slaves purTromelin story from a colleague and,
chased in Madagascar just days before
with support from UNESCO, began
Indian Ocean
and bound for Île de France, known
two years of archival research in 2004.
today as Mauritius. It had been 80 years
"The history was so interesting that
since the dodo had gone extinct on that
we decided to make an archaeological
Indian Ocean island, and the thriving
survey," he says. Guérout built a team,
French colony had a plantation economy
which included experts from GRAN,
★
TROMELIN
in need of labor. However, though slavery
the French National Institute of PrevenMauritius
was legal at the time, de Lafargue was
tive Archaeological Research (INRAP),
Réunion
not authorized by colonial authorities to
and the administration of the French
trade in slaves.
Southern and Antarctic Lands, to travel
According to the detailed account of
to the isolated islet four times-2006,
the ship's écrivain, or purser, as L'Utile
2008, 2010, and 2013-for six weeks
approached the vicinity of an islet then
at a stretch to examine the wreck site,
called Île des Sables, or Sandy Island, winds kicked up to 15
excavate, and learn something about the lives of the Malagasy
or 20 knots. The ship's two maps did not agree on the small
castaways, lives undocumented by history.
island's precise location, and a more prudent captain probably
would have slowed and waited for daylight. But de Lafargue
Fter Four DAYs At seA, La Providence arrived in Madawas in a hurry to reap his bounty. That night L'Utile struck
gascar, and the crew were transferred back to Réunion
the reef of the islet's north end, shattering the hull. Most of
Island and Mauritius. De Lafargue died in transit,
the slaves, trapped in the cargo holds, drowned, though some
leaving du Vernet to face Antoine-Marie Desforges-Boucher,
escaped as the ship broke apart. The next morning, 123 of the
the governor of Mauritius, who was furious with the violation
140 members of the French crew and somewhere between 60
of his prohibition on bringing slaves to his island. Du Vernet
and 80 Malagasy slaves found themselves stranded on Île des
repeatedly requested to have a ship sent back to the islet, only
Sables-shaken and injured, but alive.
to be denied again and again. News of the abandonment even
De Lafargue had some kind of nervous breakdown, accordreached Paris and caused a brief stir, but was forgotten in the
ing to the écrivain. First ofcer Barthélémy Castellan du
wake of the Seven Y
ears' War (1756-1763) and the looming
Vernet took over, and rallied the crew to salvage food, tools,
bankruptcy of the French East India Company. According to
and timber from the wreck and build separate camps for the
documents found by Guérout, du Vernet never gave up. "He
crew and the slaves. Under the frst ofcer's guidance, a well
was probably the only man who tried to save the people who
was dug, an oven and furnace built, and work on a new boat
remained on the island," Guérout says. Finally, in 1772, in
begun. Within two months, the makeshift vessel La Providence
response to another request from the frst ofcer, the minister
emerged from the remains of L'Utile. Du Vernet, before he
of marine afairs agreed to send a ship. La Sauterelle arrived at
sailed away with the crew, promised the Malagasy people that
Île des Sables in 1775 and sent a small boat carrying two men
a ship would return for them. And so they waited. The few
to the island, but it was dashed on the reef. One man swam
that survived waited a very long time.
back to the ship, the other to the island. Two more ships followed La Sauterelle, but neither was able to make landfall at the
he isLet, toDAY called Tromelin Island, lies 300 miles
reef- and whitecap-shrouded island. At last, on November 29,
east of Madagascar and 350 miles north of Mauritius.
1776-more than 15 years after L'Utile wrecked-La Dauphine,
Shaped like a sunfower seed, it is just one-third of a
captained by Jacques Marie Boudin de la Nuguy de Tromelin
square mile of sand and scrub. Today it hosts an unpaved runway,
(from whom the island gets its current name), made contact.
a stafed weather station, and a wildlife preserve. Hermit crabs
Only seven women and an eight-month-old boy remained.
swarm across the island in packs at night, and each year hunGuérout believes that most of the 60 to 80 slaves died
dreds of sea turtles and countless birds arrive to lay their eggs.
within the frst couple of years. A group of 18 had apparently
Diaries, letters, and the écrivain's account document the
departed the island not long after they were abandoned, but it
wreck and the two months that the French crew stayed on
is unknown whether they ever reached Madagascar. Some 15
the island, but the Malagasy castaways left no written records.
survivors endured for the following 10 years or so. Just months
Their story would have remained almost completely untold
before the rescue, three men and three women, as well as the
but for Max Guérout, a former French navy ofcer. Guérout
French sailor stranded from La Sauterelle (who had witnessed
Mad
agas
car

n the niGht oF

T
48

ArchAeology * September/October 2014

Archaeology Magazine - September/October 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - September/October 2014