Narrative of a Voyage to Senegal [Paperback]

J. B. Henry Savigny (Author), A. Correard (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1986

Title: Narrative of a Voyage to Senegal in 1816 Undertaken by Order of the French Government : Comprising an Account of the Shipwreck of the Medusa ... Observations Respecting the Agriculture of the Western Coast of Africa Publisher: London : Printed for Henry Colburn Publication date: 1818 Subjects: Méduse (Ship) Voyages and travels Senegal -- Description and travel Notes: This is an OCR reprint. There may be typos or missing text. There are no illustrations or indexes. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. You can also preview the book there.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Gericault's famous painting The Raft of the Medusa, which hangs in the Louvre, commemorates the shipwrecking of the French frigate Medusa off the coast of Senegal in 1816. Here two survivors tell the raft's story: government officials on the voyage took the ship's few lifeboats while the 150 other passengers were left on a hastily built raft. Only 15 on the raft, including Savigny and Correard, survived, and while the group expected congratulations on their arrival ashore, they were mistreated because of their knowledge of the officials' cowardice and betrayal. This grim story originally appeared in English in London in 1818 and here is published in the U.S. for the first time. Although the language is stilted and awkward, the harrowing, heroic and disillusioning story emerges nonetheless.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Marlboro Press (December 1, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0910395217
• ISBN-13: 978-0910395212
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,062,782 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Horrifying Experience, November 24, 2000

By 

Johanna H. Brown (Seattle WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Narrative of a Voyage to Senegal (Paperback)

Anyone familiar with Gericault's painting "The Raft of the Medusa" will know immediately that this is not going to be a pretty story. "Narrative of a Voyage to Senegal," written in 1816, is by two of the survivors from the raft. They tell a frightening tale of abandonment, starvation, mutiny, murder, and cannibalism, the horrors of which are surpassed by their treatment by the French government once they've been rescued. Despite the dreadful consequences of the rampant incompetence and indecision that led to their fate, ultimately it's the misguided faith the authors have in their mother country that sees them through.

The Medusa set sail in 1816 to reclaim Senegal, on the west coast of Africa, from England. Despite France's loss in the Napoleonic Wars, England had conceded France's former colonies in the wars' aftermath. The ship was carrying the governor who was to take over the reclaimed territory, as well as several hundred soldiers who were to be stationed there. After the Medusa wrecks, due to the incompetence of the captain (who relied on the advice of a passenger rather than pay attention to what his own navigators were telling him), bedlam breaks loose. Plans are made only to be tossed aside, no one is in charge, and people are scrambling to save themselves without a care for anyone else on board. As there is not enough room in the boats for the approximately 400 sailors and passengers, the survivors build a raft to carry away those who won't fit. The raft, approximately 85' x 25', is quickly lashed together from intersecting masts and spars, but it doesn't have a solid floor. (Later, people's feet and legs get caught in the holes, and they drown, unable to free themselves.)

One hundred and fifty people are put on the raft, with the idea that the boats will tow it behind them to safety. That many people, however, are too much for the small raft, and they are crowded together so tightly they stand side by side, with no room to sit down. They couldn't have sat anyway - the raft is so overloaded that the people are up to their waists in water. That is only one of the many difficulties they face.

First, the boat towing the raft deliberately loosens the tow rope, casting the raft adrift with no oars, no rudder, and no charts or navigation equipment. Then there is a gale, and many of the victims are swept overboard to their deaths. The second and third nights see a mutiny of the soldiers against the officers; many on both sides are killed and almost all are wounded. Food and water are scarce, and all are suffering from sunburn and exposure. Soon, sharks appear alongside the raft.

By the time the raft is sighted and the people on it are rescued after 13 days at sea, only 15 people of the original 150 are still alive. Of those, five die soon thereafter. The remaining 10 are put in a filthy hospital, with little food and no clothes. The governor and his cohorts leave them behind, escaping to Dakar in hopes of avoiding a scandal by spreading their own version of how the raft came to be on its own. The authors appeal to the French government for help and are spurned, again in an attempt to avoid scandal. Despite their trials, they remain loyal French citizens, with an undying hope that their country will give them at least some sort of pension after all they have been through. They are to be sorely disappointed.

It is only because of Savigny and Correard's rather florid writing style that I give this book four stars instead of five. Nevertheless, they write with an emotional candor that is heartwrenching, and I would recommend this narrative to anyone who is interested in adventure tales, sea stories, or history. The book is well worth-while, and for those of you who aren't used to reading early 19th Century literature, I recommend sticking with the story through to the end. This terrible event is rendered more awful by the knowledge that the authors really experienced it.