Gendron Ernest (1 results)
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Seller: Douglas Stewart Fine Books, Armadale, VIC, AustraliaDouglas Stewart Fine Books
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Add to basket[Libourne, France, between 1882 and1887]. Folio, 270 x 215 mm, manuscript, [159] pp, in 4 stitched sections of 23, 38, 48 and 50 pages respectively, the third section with 2 pencil and wash drawings in the text, the fourth section with 3pencil and wash drawings in the text and one laid down on thick paper(a depiction of the wrec…k of theAlcméne); the manuscript is very well preserved and complete; [together with] Certificats de mes services àl'État. Signed autograph manuscript, Challans, 22 August 1887; folio, [3] pp, being thecomplete maritimeservice record of Ernest Gendron, author of theAlcméne manuscript. An unpublishedfirst-handaccount of the voyage of the French naval corvette Alcméne in the South Seas, 1848-1852, including extended descriptions of the loss of crew members tocannibalism in New Caledonia in 1850, and of the vessel's infamousshipwreck at Kaipara on the west coast of New Zealand in 1851, whilst en route from Hobart Town to Tahiti. Born in Bordeaux in 1833, Ernest Gendron embarked as a "mousse" (equivalent to the Royal Navy's rank of "boy") on the three-masted corvetteAlcméne in July 1848. Gendron's impeccably handwritten account of the voyage was evidently set down by him at some point in the 1880s, and is drawn from his original shipboard notebooks.The vessel departed the west coast of France for the Marquesas and Tahiti on 15 July, with a complement of 262 crew and 122 passengers, mostlysoldiers, missionaries and Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent De Paul. ItreachedRio de Janeiro on 4 September, Valparaiso on 10 January 1849 and Callao on 18 February, where it remained for almost a month before sailing westward. The Alcménearrived at Nouka-Hiva in the Marquesas on 3 April 1849, where it relieved the corvetteGalathée. Gendron's account includes hisobservationsof the Marquesans, whom he describes as "half-savage", despite the fact that cannibalism is no longer practiced in the islands. Some of the ship's crew participate in the construction of a barracks next to the church. After almost a year's sojourn at Nouka-Hiva theAlcméne departed on 30 March 1850 for Tahiti, where it arrived on 12 April. Its duties there included ensuring the supply of provisions to the missionaries living on the various islands, as well as conducting hydrographic surveys. On 4 July 1850 the ship left for Port Jackson, where it arrived on 8 September after calling in at the Gambier Islands and Wallis Island. TheAlcméne did not remain in Sydney long, however, as on 4 October it received orders to sail to the Isle of Pines in New Caledonia, where it was to carry out more hydrographic survey work. The greater part of the manuscript is devoted to episodes inthis part of thevoyage, including revictualling the missionary communities, visits to the smaller islands, topographic surveys, encounters with the indigenous inhabitants, and the discovery in the jungle of a lost monument to d'Entrecasteaux. On the 14 November 1850 14 of theAlcméne's crewwere sent to explore the islands off the northern tip ofNew Caledonia in the ship's cutter. When they did not return a searchwas mounted, but onlythree of the sailors were found. Gendron, who had remained on board theAlcméne, recounts in great detail the gripping eyewitness narrative of one of the survivors, Lafitte. On 2 December 1850, while collecting fresh water on the island ofYenghebane, the sailors had beenattacked by natives, who massacred 11 of their number and captured the other three, bringing them before the chief of thevillage. The three were then compelled to watch the preparations forthe ensuing cannibal feast, as theircompanions were mutilated and then cooked over hot coalsfor two hours. Theirbody parts weredistributed amongst the villagers and consumed to the accompanying soundof the enormousslit drums. Having witnessed this terrifying scene, the three survivors were led away to a nearby ravine, where they were held hostage under heavyguard for nine days, before their fortuitous rescue by members of the search party. After erecting a memorial stone to their comrades, the sailors carried out a punitive operation which showed the island's inhabitants no mercy: theywere shoton sight and theirvillages were razed to the ground.(One of the repercussions of these events was that the island ofYenghebane wasannexed byFrance in 1853). The voyage of theAlcméne continued regardless, and on 15 January 1851 she arrived at Hobart Town. Here orders were received to return to Tahiti via New Zealand, where she was to collecta cargo of kauri spars atWhangaroa on the east coast of Northland - often referred to as the shipwreck coast. TheAlcméne left Hobart on May 22 with a crew of 229 and one female passenger (the Comtesse d'Ehrensvard, who was none other than the granddaughter of the Governor of Tasmania, Mary Bell Scott, the new bride ofComte Carl Augustin d'Ehrensvard, a sub-lieutenant in the Royal Swedish Navy on loan to the French Navy). On 3 June 1851 theAlcménelost her bearings in a heavy storm andran aground atKaipara. Gendron provides a blow-by-blow account of this dramatic event and its aftermath, which sees a party strike out overland to find help, while the other survivors fend for themselves as best they can near the site of the shipwreck. Hisdrawings, in particular his spectacular depiction of the Alcménecoming to grief in the storm, make his narrativeall the more immediate. A group ofM?ori from a village 35 nautical miles distant eventually cometo their rescue, transporting them in canoes as far asAkaroa, where they aremet by British officers. The wreck of the Alcméne was a sensational event in early colonial New Zealand history. Gendron records that 33 sailors were drowned, although other sourcesgive a lower number. In Auckland the survivors were feted, and a monument commemorating the loss of the French ship and crew was erected. Many of thesurvivors, including Gendron, were transported back to Tahiti on an American vessel. On 28 January1852they fi.
