Medusa Shipwreck (Part 1)

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Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly Frye and I'm Tracy V. Wilson. In our recent episode on augustin Frenel, we mentioned that a tragic shipwreck led France and eventually the world, to want to improve lighthouse technology. And I knew immediately as I was working on that episode that I wanted to talk about this shipwreck because it was the demise of the French frigate La Medus or in English Medusa. This was actually covered in an episode by prior hosts Sarah and Doblina in twenty eleven, in their episode five Shipwreck Stories. We actually ran that as a Saturday Classic on July twentieth, twenty twenty two. But there is so much about the Medusa that just cannot make it into a five minute segment. So much and this the story is also very closely intertwined with art, which they do also touch on, although I think they maybe did not look into the creation of that art because they're like to end it on a happy note and they talk about the art, but like as you'll discover in Part two, creating it was its own wild story. The Raft of Medusa by Teo Doorgerico is a depiction of a life raft from this wreck, a drift at sea right before it's rescued, and Jericho's obsession with the story of the Medusa and with creating a record of what happened on the raft is a story in and of itself. So this is a two parter, And in this first episode we're going to talk about the mission to Senegal that the Medusa led and how things fell disastrously and horrifyingly apart. And then in the second episode we will talk about the aftermath of the shipwreck, and we'll talk about Teo Door Jericho's life, including his obsession with the disaster. So heads up, some of this is incredibly gnarly. There are some truly tragic events that played out, and instances of starving people resorting to cannibalism and other very unsavory means to survive. Some of the accounts that we will read from survivors are very very graphic and harrowing, but they're an important part of the record. So just know if that's something that you can't maybe handle, we have hundreds of episodes for you to enjoy. But I do think this is an important story about governance, about leadership, and about you know, how important it is to think carefully about missions that you develop and goals that you have and who should be in charge of them. When you're going to put a bunch of people on a vessel and that vessel will be unable to get assistants, it's very important to go above and beyond with safety, yes, and not cut corners. Yes, it's a parable for today, It really really is, as you'll hear. Yeah. In the months after Napoleon Bonaparte's first abdication in April of eighteen fourteen, France, the UK, Russia, Prussia, Austria, Portugal, Sweden, and Spain entered into a peace agreement known as the Treaty of Paris. There are lots of Treaties of Paris. Sometimes this one is specified as the first Treaty of Paris. This treaty built on previous accords and ended the fighting among these nations, but it also established new boundaries for France. It acknowledged the Bourbon monarchy in France, made rules about the slave trade in France, and it also portioned out colonies in foreign territories. France had an official presence in Senegal since the seventeenth century, but it had lost that to Britain until this treaty gave the French that colony back. Obviously, it goes without saying, but we will say it. This of course, left the indigenous populations of these colonized places out of the conversation entirely. The French intended to re establish their presence in Senegal, although Napoleon's brief returned from exile in eighteen fifteen postponed that effort. Once Napoleon had abdicated for a second time, plans for this expedition continued. A frigate known as Lamadou's the Medusa, which was a proven naval vessel, was chosen to be the flagship of the mission. The other ships were a corvette called Echo, which was captained by Cornette de Venancourt, a brig called the Argus under the command of Lieutenant Parnajan, and a supply ship called Loire under the command of Lieutenant Guiquel de Touche. The captain one of the Medusa was put in command because he was a loyal royalist. That was Viscount Hugh Dua de Chemery. He had fled to England during the revolution, barely escaping execution, and he published an autobiography that was very popular with Royalist English readers. He had not captained a vessel in two decades, but as a show of gratitude for his support of the Bourbons, King Louis the eighteenth made him the captain of what was a high profile mission to re establish the Senegal colony. Chamaree had campaigned for this post, and using his own autobiography as a source, he gave an overblown account of his qualifications for it. He was fifty three and he had not been at sea for more than twenty years when he received this commission. The men who helmed the other three ships did not really care for him. No, everybody that was really experienced and skilled kind of smelled a lot of incompetence on him right out of the gate. And while there had been expeditions there to Senegal before, this was still considered a very treacherous voyage. The mapping of the African coast was not comprehensive, and there was a sand bank known as the Aguambank that contained reformations that were particularly treacherous. There had been dozens of shipwrecks along the coast where they were heading in the decades preceding the missions planned voyage. The people aboard the Medusa were a mix of soldiers, civilians, and officials. Those selected had been chosen to create a full community package that could basically land at the French colonial port of Saloui and Senegal and be ready to go right off the ship. There were storekeepers, clerks, scouts, schoolmasters, apothecaries, hospital directors, surgeons, a gardener, writer, bakers, engineers, a naturalist, an agriculturalist, on and on trying to cover all the bases. And the man who had been tapped as the new governor of Senegal, Julian Schmaltz, was on the frigate with his wife and daughter. In total, according to one crew account, there were three hundred and sixty five people on this mission, with two hundred and forty of them on the Medusa, but official accounts of the people involved put the numbers higher, with the people aboard the Medusa at close to four hundred. On June seventeenth, eighteen sixteen, the expedition left port from Ilde off the western coast of France. There were problems immediately the first day. They actually had to hold before they even got very far because the wind was bad enough that the loire was struggling, so all of the ships cast anchor and weighted. Then a storm came up. In the account written by survivors, they state quote, for some days we made but very little pre Additionally, a lot of the people that were setting out to populate the new colony had not spent time at sea, and so all of these ships were kind of full of people who were very seasick in the early part of the journey. Coming up, we'll talk about how badly things started to go for the Medusa, but first we will pause for a sponsor break. There was a tragic incident just a few days into the Medusa's journey. According to the main survivor account quote, a sailor lad fifteen years of age, fell into the sea through one of the four portholes on the larboard side. A great many persons were at the time on the poop and the breastwork, looking at the gambles of the porpoises. The exclamations of pleasure at beholding the sports of these animals were succeeded by cries of pity. For some moments, the unfortunate youth held by the end of a rope which he caught hold of in his fall, but the rapidity with which the frigate sailed soon forced him to let go. So the Medusa intended to signal the echo about this man overboard. The echo was in sight of the ship, but there was no loaded gun on the ship. I have read some interpretations of loaded gun being like a pistol and others being like a cannon. I don't know which is accurate. A life boy was thrown out to the boy, and the ship was slowed as much as possible, and at one point one of the onboard sailors actually got a hold of this boy by the arm some accounts say by the back of his shirt, but it doesn't matter because he lost that hold when that sailor that was on board was nearly pulled into the water. A small boat with three men in it was set into the water, but they could not spot the boy, and the life buoy that they had thrown out for him had also not been spotted. At that point, this fifteen year old was presumed dead, and the frigate continued on its course. The hire mission was struggling by the time this happened. Though the Echo could almost keep pace with the Medusa, the other two ships really could not, and Chamre did not seem to have a plan to mitigate this problem. He was focused on the edict that the group had to reach San Luis, which was the previously established French capital of Senegal, as quickly as possible. As a consequence, he let the Medusa outpace the other ships and left them with no navigation headings to follow. All of this, plus the boy lost at sea, who a lot of people thought could have been saved, led to people to just increasingly not trust him. They already didn't like him. It was goenna be worse well. The other experienced sailors did not like him right out of the gate, But at this point the people that were civilians were like, I don't know that this guy is maybe the best at is. I say that laughingly, but it's really gonna hurt people. Aboard the Echo, Guiquel de Touche noticed that even when the Medusa did signal its intended course, the ship often did something different than what had been communicated, so Detouche just started using observation instead of believing any of the signals Chamree was sending. This was made worse when Chamere appointed someone totally unqualified to advise him in navigation. That was a man named Antoine Richefort cho More and Richefort met on the ship as a member of the Philanthropic Society. Richefort had managed to get a seat at the captain's table for meals, and Richeford, who had some naval experience, claimed to the captain that he was an expert regarding the coast of Africa. And Chamere, who had a lot of ill will toward him on the ship at this point and knew it, found a friend in Richeford, so he started listening to his assessments of their situation and acting on them with no vas of the man's actual qualifications, and this is likely what eventually put the Medusa sixty nautical miles away from where they actually thought they were. The depth of the misguided trust the captain gave and the blame that many believe he deserved for what happened, is described in an account from one of the passengers, Charlotte Picicard. This way quote. A certain passenger, member of the self instituted philanthropic Society of Cape Baird, suggested that it was very dangerous to remain where we were, adding that he was well acquainted with the country and had navigated in all these latitudes. Monsieur Lais Chamer, captain of the Medusa, believing the pretended knowledge of the intriguing richefort gave him the command of the frigate. Various officers of the navy represented to the captain how shameful it was to put such confidence in a stranger, and that they would never obey a man who had no character as a commander. The captain despised these wise remonstrances, and using his authority, commanded the pilots and all the crew to obey rech for saying he was king. Since the orders of the king were they should obey him immediately. The impostor, desirous of displaying his great skill in navigation, made them change the root for no purpose but that of showing his skill in maneuvering a ship. Every instant he changed the tack, went, came and returned, and approached the very reefs, as if to brave them. In short, he beat about so much that the sailors at length refused to obey him, saying boldly that he was a vile impostor. But it was done. The man had gained the confidence of Captain Chamer, who, ignorant of navigation himself, was doubtless glad to get someone to undertake his duty. But it must be told, and told to in the face of all of Europe, that this blind and inept confidence was the sole cause of the loss of the Medusa frigate, as well as all of the crimes consequent upon it. So the survivor's account from people aboard the Medusa described the ship's proximity to the reef at arguais this way. Quote. During a part of the night, the echo, with which we had constantly kept company since we left Madeira, burnt several charges of powder and hung a lanthorn at the mizzen mast. Her signals were not answered in the same manner. Only a lanthorn was hung for a few moments to the foremast. It went out soon after and was not replaced by another light. Monsieur Saviagner was on deck, where he remained a part of the night. He had full opportunity to perceive the negligence of the officer of the watch, who did not even deign to answer the signals made by the echo. Why in the neighborhood of so formidable a danger not compare the points of the two ships, as is usual when vessels sail and company. The captain of the frigate was not even informed of the signals of the corvette. At eleven o'clock she bore off the larboard bow, and soon after he perceived that the direction of her course made a pretty large angle with ours, and that it tended to cross us. Passing ahead, he soon perceived her on the starboard. It is affirmed that her journal states that she sailed the whole night west southwest ours does the same. We must necessarily have hauled to the larboard or she to the starboard, since at daybreak the corvette was no longer in sight. According to the survivor's account, it wasn't as though the Medusa was just chugging along and slammed into the reef, not knowing it was there. An ensign of the watch named la Perier had determined in the night that the ship was in shallow waters near the reef. Another watchman, an experienced sailor named Monsieur Madet, confirmed Laparier's assessment and communicated up the chain of command that the ship was quote on the edge of the reef, but his concerns were dismissed by the captain, who, deciding these assessments were false based on nothing but vibes and the words of Richefort, stated that the ship was in eighty fathoms that's four hundred and eighty feet of water. In the writing of geographical engineer Alexander Coriar and Heri Savni, one of the surgeons of the group, they explicitly state quote, we have mentioned the names of monsieurs La Prere and Mode because if they had been attended to, the Medusa would still be in existence. Yeah. Normally, at a point when your people inform you you are very close to a reef, you would take a depth sound, right, And the captain didn't want to. He just completely wanted to pretend that reality was not and what he said would magically be true. At midday on July second, eighteen sixteen, the Medusa ran up onto the reef at Arguin and stopped moving. After the initial panic in the power vacuum left by the obvious ineptitude of Chamree. Different sailors came up with different plans for what to do next. There was a flurry of things that did have to happen. Soundings were taken of the surrounding waters, since some areas that were quite close to the reef were actually fairly deep and might offer a spot that the ship could move into safely. The kedge anchor, which is an anchor designed to pull the ship back into water in just such a circumstance, was deployed, but it failed. The ship's weight was rebalanced to prevent tipping. Governor Schmall stepped into the leadership position as no one trusted rechore Or Chamree, and the crew tried for two full days to get the Medusa floating again, and there were even some moments where it seemed like their efforts were working. But then the need to evacuate the ship was discussed with the crew. Schmalls realized there were not enough life boats for everyone and designed a raft to take the people who couldn't fit in the boats. This raft required the boom, the masts, and the yards from the ship for its construction, as well as various planks with the pieces salvaged from the Medusa. The raft had prow stability planking and a platform. It was sixty five feet by twenty two feet and the intent was that it would be towed by the lifeboats and then once the entire party reached the shore, they would continue on foot to the French capital in Senegal. Up to this point, the Medusa was stuck, but she was intact. But then on the night of July fourth, wind and sharp waves caused the frigate to crack and they thought it was going to collapse. There were concerns that people would be crushed by falling masts if they stayed on the boat, and the order was given to evacuate in the early hours of the morning. An organizational list had all already been drafted that assigned people to the boats and the raft. Unsurprisingly, the highest ranking people were put in the safest spots, while lowest ranking people were put on the raft. Incidentally, Charlotte Picard's family was initially put on the raft, and they were kind of, you know, high ranking in general, and they made a fuss and ended up on the longboat. But anyone who had had conflict with Captain Chamer was also relegated to the raft. One officer reportedly stayed behind by threatening to shoot anyone who tried to force him onto the raft and stating that he would rather choose how he died. Several other members of the crew stayed behind as well, some just feeling that it was their duty to stay with the ship, and others not really being willing to risk the lifeboats of the raft. It was clear at every step that the raft, which was perilously overloaded, was going to be in trouble. The officer who promised to take charge of the raft instead got into one of the lifeboats. Chamaer did not go down with the ship, as would normally be traditioned for the man in charge. He jumped into one of the lifeboats and left members of his crew behind. We'll talk about the perilous and awful journey of the evacuees, but before we get into that admittedly awful material, we are going to hear from the sponsors that keep stuff you missed in history class going. Once this little towing flotilla set out, it became immediately apparent that pulling the raft was causing a lot of challenges, steering became close to impossible, and everyone was slowed down. And then because the raft was also built the way it was, it was causing them to actually be pulled away from the shore rather than to it. And the longboat that was part of the flotilla actually went back to get more people from the Medusa, and also tried to redistribute some of the people among the lifeboats so that none of them was unequally overburdened. That longboat was refused. Everyone was like, you pick those people up, they're yours. Then an even more harrowing act, the order was issued to abandon the raft. According to Charlotte Picard's account, quote, Monsieur le Peire instantly let go the rope which attached us to the other boats, and tugged off with all his force. At the same instant, every boat imitated our excurrable example, and, wishing to shun the approach of the shallop which sought for assistance, stood off from the raft, abandoning in the midst of the ocean, and to the fury of the waves. The miserable mortals whom they had sworn to land on the shores of the desert scarcely had those cowards broken their oath. When we saw the French flag flying upon the raft. The governors and the Camptaptain's boats had cut the ropes that tethered them to this raft. Though the boats had their own problems in fighting and suspicion, they did eventually make it too shore on the coast of Mauritania, and they began the trek south to Senegal. The initial group from the longboat that was the boat that went back to get extra people that made land numbered eighty six, and that number began to dwindle immediately. One of the longboat's survivors was so badly injured that he could not travel on land, and they left him on the beach. Charlotte Picard described the relief of the initial landing then being supplanted by fear this way, quote, doubtless the joy we experienced at having escaped as by a miracle. The fury of the floods was very great, But how much was it lessened by the feelings of our horrible situation without water, without provisions, and the majority of us nearly naked. Was it to be wondered at that we should be seized with terror on thinking of the obstacles which we had to say surmount, the fatigues, the privations, the pains and the sufferings we had to endure with the dangers we had to encounter on the immense and frightful desert we had to traverse before we could arrive at our destination. The longboat survivors had drunk their tiny portion of water and had some seawater soaked biscuits while still at sea, and embarked with nothing. They dug into the ground wherever they found plants to try to get to whatever water they could, and apparently that water was rank. They started to become delirious. The French group had been very frightened of the Mauritanians based on a lot of racist and xenophobic misinformation that was common in Europe. They ended up trading with some of them to get some much needed supplies and having others offer help as guides. When a small band did launch an attack on the Medusa survivors, it was stopped when one of the men recognized Charlotte Picard's father, cart had hired the man on a previous visit to Senegal. After five days of walking along the shore, they were intercepted by boats sent by the English Governor of Senegal and then brought to Saint Luis. Other lifeboat survivors in a small sailboat faced similarly grueling challenges, although they had started with a group half the size of that in the longboat. But this smaller group, led by Lieutenant Espieaux, were captured by a group of Mauritanians. They were eventually rescued as well by a contingent from the English settlement. As for the boats carrying Governor Schmaltz and Captain Chamae, they stayed together. After cutting the raft loose, they were quickly picked up by the echo and they had a relatively easy ride to San Luis. The people on the raft had a much different experience. They had very little to keep them going. Food supplies were lean. They had wine, but they didn't have much fresh warm and they couldn't steer or navigate at all. Because of the crowded conditions, some people clung to the raft on the sides with their lower halves in the water. There were initially one hundred and forty seven people on this raft, all men except for one woman. Savignye and Coriad were near the center, which is one of the reasons they survived to write a detailed account. Over the course of thirteen days, the situation on the raft devolved into a scenario that really can only be described as hellish. Seveny took on a leadership role to some degree along with other experienced sailors of the Medusa's crew, instructing on the construction of a sail and mast for the raft. They hung their signal gun at the top to keep its powder from getting wet. He soaked the small number of biscuits they had in wine to distribute among the dozens of people. As a surgeon, he knew that water was going to be a bigger issue. Additionally, people started dying almost immediately. The raft had been constructed by lashing pieces of the ship together, but these weren't things that were meant to be fitted together, and there were gaps, and in the thrashing waves, people got their legs and arms and other body parts injured. When they got caught between those things at the gaps, they would fall into the cracks between those lashed pieces, and a lot of people died from these injuries. Some of them were just flat out crushed to death. After a day. Some men actually chose to die by suicide by simply jumping into the sea, then try to wait out any kind of horrible end they thought might come. As people went mad, which they did, some of them tried to sabotage the boat and take it apart to end the whole ordeal. Others attacked the various officers on board. Dangerous delirium was handled brutally. People who were behaving dangerously were killed and thrown overboard. A mute began as fear drove people into the most brutal form of survival mood. The one woman on board who was with her husband was thrown over with him, but was pulled back on by Corier and the other sailors. Corier described the scene quote, they attacked us, We charged them in our turn, and soon the raft was covered with their dead bodies. Those among our adversaries who had no arms attempted to tear us with their teeth. Several of us were cruelly. Monsieur Seviny was himself bitten in the legs and the shoulder. He received also a wound with a knife in his right arm, which deprived him for a long time of the use of the fourth and little fingers of that hand. Many others were wounded. Our clothes were pierced in many places by knives and sabers. One of our workmen was also seized by four of the mutineers, who were going to throw him into the sea. One of them had seized him by the right leg and was biting him cruelly in the sinew above the heel. The others were beating him severely with their sabers and the butt end of their carbines. His cries made us fly to his aid. The mutiny was intense, and wine and water supplies were lost in the frame. The seven Year and Corrier account states that sixty to sixty five men were lost in the course of this conflict, almost all of them from the delirious mutineers. The day after the riot of the mutiny ended, when things had calmed down and the remaining raft members tried fishing by fashioning hooks out of the metal items that they had on board, but they were not successful in this effort, and then they turned to cannibalism. Seven Ye and Coriard begged their readers to understand the circumstances, writing quote, but an extreme resource was necessary to preserve our wretched existence. We tremble with horror at being obliged to mention that which we made use of. We feel our pen drop from our hand, A deathlike chill pervades all our limbs, our hair stands erect on our heads. Reader, we beseech you do not feel indignation towards men who are already too unfortunate, but have compassion on them and shed some tears of pity on their unhappy fate. They go on to describe the way things played out, and this is graphic and difficult, but it also offers insight into just how awful this experience was and how much these people struggled. If you're squeamish, though, you might want to just jump ahead, maybe ninety seconds to two minutes. This is a quote again quote those whom death had spared, and the disastrous night which we have just described, fell upon the dead bodies with which the raft was covered, and cut off pieces which some instantly devoured, many did not touch them. Most all the officers were of this number. Seeing that this horrid nourishment had given strength to those who had made use of it, it was proposed to dry it in order to render it a little less disgusting, Those who had firmness enough to abstain from it took a larger quantity of wine. We tried to eat sword belts and cartouche boxes. We succeeded in swallowing some little morsels. Some eat linen, others pieces of leather from the hats on which there was a little grease, or rather dirt. We were obliged to give up these last means. A sailor attempted to eat excrements, but he could not succeed, and their group continued to dwindle. Each morning, more people were missing from the raft, or they were found dead on it. When they were down to twenty seven people, the men who had been more or less in charge had a meeting to discuss what meager rations of wine were left. It was the only thing there was to and they had calculated that they had four days worth of supplies left, but that if they threw people who were clearly dying overboard, those reserves would last almost a week longer. The husband and wife were among the victims of this grim decision, as were another ten men, leaving just fifteen men aboard. They also threw their weapons into the sea, knowing that it was entirely likely some or all of them may again experience delirium and threaten or murder each other. They also started drinking urine to try to stay alive, and around this time sharks began to circle the raft and never left. On the thirteenth day, an infantry captain on the raft spotted a ship. They straightened some of the hoops from the casks they had on board and tied handkerchiefs to them to make flags. They lifted one of the men to the mast and he waved the flags from there, hoping to get their attention. For a while. They grew despondent when they lost sight of this ship, but it reappeared closer to them than before, and they all started waving any piece of cloth they could get their hands on. The survivor account of coryar and seven Ye notes quote, the manner in which we were saved is truly miraculous. The finger of Heaven is conspicuous in this event, and it really was just a random stroke of luck that put them in view of their rescuers. The brig Argus, which had been part of the four ship group that started this mission had been sent out to help the survivors of the lifeboats and to look for the raft, and the lifeboat survivors were taken care of, but the captain of the argus believed that the raft just must have been lost, and after a brief search, he turned back to port at Senegal. The ship had to shift its course due to a wind search, and it was only because of that change in heading that the raft was spotted. When the remaining survivors of the raft were brought a board the argus, they were told that they had been assumed dead for a week. The written account continues, quote, we were received in the most brilliant manner. The governor. Several officers, both English and French, came to meet us, and one of the officers in this numerous train held out to us a hand which a fortnight before had as it were, plunged us in the depth of despair, by loosening the toe rope, which made our raft fast to the boat. But such is the effect produced by the sight of wretches who have just been miraculously delivered, that there was not a single person, either English or French, who did not shed tears of compassion on seeing the deplorable condition to which we were reduced. The survivors of the Medusa raft were nursed carefully, with a surgeon monitoring their nutrition and slowly introducing solid food back into their diets. Just the same five of the surviving fifteen died, and the days and weeks that followed their rescue, the aftermath of the Medusa's horrible end, and the painting that was created to commemorate the experiences on the raft are what we're going to talk about in part two. To have some listener mail I do. This is such a leg grisly episode in some ways that I wanted to end it on a funny one, and I'm gonna pre thank our listener, David for providing a great email. Who writes. Good day, Holly and Tracy. I'm a longtime listener and a big fan of your podcast, but have never felt compelled to write before today. While listening to your latest episode about Jane Cunningham Crowley, you mentioned that she formed a women's club called the Cirrosis Club. I burst out laughing at my own ignorance. While I lived in Wilmington, North Carolina, there was an antique show held every year in February, put on by the Cape Fear Sarosis Club. I always found it odd that a club about liver disease would hold an antique show. I never looked it up, and your podcast taught me a great lesson in making an assumption even eight years after the fact. Be well and thank you for the education. PS. My pet Tex is my twelve year old rescue bulldog, Anastasia Beaverhausen. She was somebody's brood mare and dumped once they were done with her around five years old. She now lives the easy life with a sofa and unending supply of snacks. Anastasia is so cute. Her expression is next level, and I'm so glad she's a spoiled baby. But I love this in it. I meant to actually mention it in the episode and forgot because I was trying every time we said sorosis to really accentuate that oh so that no one thought it was cirrhosis of the right same. But I'm glad that we help somebody else clear up a confusion. Thank you so much, David. That was a delight and much needed after our discussion of people suffering for two weeks on end. If you would like to write to us, whether it's over confusion, over pronunciation that makes for hilarity, or anything else, you can do that at History podcast to iHeartRadio dot com. You can subscribe to the show on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Stuff You Missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.