A few weeks ago, I decided to try to dig up any papers or books online by renowned Mauritian archivist/researcher Auguste Toussaint that I hadn’t previously read. One of these was his 1977 article “Le Corsaire Bordelais Jacques-Francois Perroud“, which appeared on pp. 99-124 of Revue Historique de Bordeaux et du Departement du Gironde, #26.
Les Petites Affiches
Toussaint, as you’d expect, provides a detailed (yet brisk) account of Perroud’s corsairing career. One detail stopped me in my tracks: when trying to track down how much the sale of Perroud’s prizes yielded at auction, Toussaint searched the Outre-Mer section of the Archives nationale (p. 109) in vain, even though he had found an announcement of the auction dated 9th August 1802 in the journal Les Petites Affiches de l’isle de France.
Now, I’d heard of this journal but thought that all physical copies of it had been lost. But from Toussaint’s account it would appear that I was wrong. So I now have an open task to try to find copies of Le Petites Affiches, because this would appear to be the kind of rich (if not almost random) history I love to grind through hunting for pearls.
Jean Baptiste Castaing
Another thing Toussaint mentioned (pp. 113-114) that I didn’t previously know was the fate of Perroud’s 36-cannon frigate the Bellone. Perroud was taken ill in Port-Louis, and so passed command of the Bellone to his second-in-command Jean Baptiste Castaing. The Bellone then cast off for the Bay of Bengal on the 15th April 1806, capturing the Lady William Bentinck (landed in Mauritius 30th June 1806) followed by the Orient and the Sir Lawrence Pearson (both landed in Mauritius 15th August 1806). However, on 12th July 1806 the Bellone was captured off the east coast of Ceylon by H.M.S. Powerful (74 cannons) from Admiral Pellew’s fleet: Pellew subsequently bought the Bellone at auction, refitted it and took into the British fleet.
The interesting part? So far I have found no subsequent trace of Jean Baptiste Castaing anywhere. If it turns out he was wounded and died in that battle, might he possibly have been the corsair captain mentioned in the BN3 letter? I don’t know, but it’s a good question. For reference, the BN3 letter says:
Avec eux nous avons fait de jolies prises, mais à notre dernier combat sur les côtes d’Indoustan, avec une grosse frégate anglaise, le capitaine a été blessé et à son lit de mort m’a confié ses secrets et des papiers pour retrouver des trésors considérables enfouis dans la mer des Indes et en me demandant de m’en servir pour armer des corsaires contre l’Anglais; il s’est assuré auparavant si j’étais franc-maçon.
Toussaint further mentions (p.116) that, after uber-corsair Robert Surcouf left the Indian Ocean (following a “querelle memorable avec Decaen“), no corsair cruises left Mauritius in 1809 at all, and the two that left Mauritius in 1810 were both captured.
Haches d’abordage
Finally: a few years ago I was able to compile a list of 50 of the 53 French seamen given haches d’abordage by Napoleon, but struggled to find the final three. (I discussed this topic here and here.)
Toussaint mentions (p.111) that Perroud was awarded the hache d’abordage (as mentioned in my list), but then goes on to say that the only two other recipients he knew of who were corsairs in the Indian Ocean were the famous brothers Robert Surcouf and Nicolas Surcouf. So it seems my list was missing these two, bringing it up to 52 out of the 53.
As an aside, Toussaint finishes that section off by noting that the rough-and-ready Breton corsair Jean-Marie Dutertre (who also had a memorable [but separate] quarrel with Robert Surcouf) was recommended by Governor Decaen for the Croix de Chevalier on 22 February 1808; but Decres – despite Dutertre’s phenomenal success as a corsair – turned him down. All of which sounds a lot like class prejudice to me, but perhaps subtle French naval historians will have a better explanation. Ho hum.