Jean-François-Marie de Surville

Jean-François-Marie de Surville
Born 18 January 1717
Port-Louis, Brittany, France
Died 8 April 1770(1770-04-08) (aged 53)
Chilca, Peru
Cause of death Drowned
Nationality French
Known for Exploration of the Pacific

Jean-François-Marie de Surville (18 January 1717 – 8 April 1770) was a French merchant captain with the French East Indies Company who commanded a voyage of exploration to the South Pacific.

Born in Brittany, France, Surville joined the French East India Company in 1727 when he was 10 years old. He sailed on voyages in Indian and Chinese waters and in 1740 joined the French Navy. He fought in the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years' War, twice becoming a prisoner of war. After his military career ended, he re-joined the French East India Company. In 1769, he commanded an expedition into the Pacific and explored the seas around the Solomon Islands and New Zealand. He drowned off the coast of Peru on 8 April 1770 while seeking help for the crew of his ship, the St. Jean Baptiste.

Early life

Born on 18 January 1717, Jean-François-Marie de Surville was the son of Jean de Surville, a government official at Port-Louis in Brittany, and his wife, Françoise Mariteau de Roscadec, the daughter of a ship owner. At the age of ten, he left home and joined the French East India Company, a commercial enterprise established several years previously to trade in the East Indies. With the company, he sailed on trading voyages around India and China.[1]

Surville joined the French Navy (La Marine Royale) following the outbreak of the War of the Austrian Succession in 1740 and fought in that conflict. He was made a prisoner of war in 1745, but was released and subsequently recaptured the following year.[1] He also served in the Seven Years' War, sailing with the Comte d'Aché's naval fleet in the Indian Ocean.[2] He was looked upon favourably by his superiors for his seamanship and leadership and received a wartime commission.[3] By 1753, Surville was commander of the Renommée and had made the acquaintance of Marion Dufresne who would later become known for his exploration feats in the Pacific.[4]

In 1759, Surville was awarded the Cross of St. Louis. At this stage of his life, he was married, having wed Marie Jouaneaulx at Nantes in 1750. The marriage produced two sons, who later joined the French Army.[1]

French India

Surville returned to service with the French East India Company in the 1760s; he was commander of the Duc de Praslin during its voyage in 1765 transporting the new governor of Pondicherry, Jean Law de Lauriston to India, to take up his post. Afterwards, together with Lauriston and Jean-Baptiste Chevalier, the governor of Chandernagore which, like Pondicherry, was a French settlement on the east coast of India, he set up a venture to pursue trading in the Indian Ocean. Returning to France in 1766, Surville gained the permission of the French East India Company for his commercial plans. Needing a ship for his venture, he facilitated the construction of the St. Jean Baptiste at Port-Louis. A vessel of 650 tons, and armed with 36 guns, he sailed her to India in June 1767. [3] Over the next several months, a series of trading voyages along the Indian coast was carried out by Surville.[3] He was also, for a period of time, deputy governor of Pondicherry, and the likely replacement for Lauriston in the event of the latter's death.[5]

A view of Pondicherry in the late 18th century

By late 1768, a commercial expedition to the Philippines was being planned[3] but in the meantime, the French East India Company was undergoing severe financial difficulties; its monopoly in the East Indies was likely to be revoked. Surville and his business associates recognised that this would represent new opportunities for their syndicate.[2] At the same time, they had become aware of rumours of a recent British discovery of land in the South Pacific, believed to be the fabulously wealthy island of Davis Land. In actual fact, these rumours were based on the HMS Dolphin's reports of Tahiti.[6]

This new land represented commercial opportunity for Surville's syndicate. However, it would also be necessary to establish a French foothold in the South Pacific, ahead of the British, least they be locked out of the region. Consequently, it was decided that Surville would mount an expedition to the South Pacific.[7] The plan was for Surville to sail the St. Jean Baptiste to Malacca and then onto the South China Seas and the Philippines. He was to then traverse the north and south latitudes of the Pacific looking for Davis Land. The latter objective was to be kept secret even from the officers of the expedition. On his return, Surville was to stop at Manila and Batavia.[8] To avoid British suspicion as to the purpose of the expedition, the official destination of the St. Jean Baptiste was Manila and then Canton.[9]

After over two months of preparation, Surville departed from Chandernagore aboard the St. Jean Baptiste on 3 March 1769 with a mixture of trading goods as cargo.[10] These goods, if not able to sold to the Jewish merchants believed to live on Davis Island, was to be sold at Manila on the expedition's return voyage to help with the expedition's profitability.[8] Also on board were several charts and narratives of voyages to the Pacific, including an account of Abel Tasman's journey to New Zealand.[8] After visits to French settlements along the Indian coast to pick up food supplies,[11] Surville made his last stop at Pondicherry,[12] where he added some grenadiers to the expedition's complement.[13] The expedition departed on their venture on 22 June 1769.[12]

Exploring the Pacific

Surville sailed first to the Nicobar Islands to verify the presence of a Danish colony there and then, without stopping, proceeded to Malacca, arriving on 29 June 1769.[14] An initially warm welcome from the Dutch governor soon cooled when another ship, an English vessel, arrived with allegations the French were headed to the East Indies, where the Dutch had a monopoly. Surville promptly left, [15] sailing onto Terengganu on the Malay peninsula and then to the Bashi islands where several of his crew deserted. In retaliation, Surville captured some of the Bashi islanders.[16]

Proceeding to the Solomon Islands, the expedition began to suffer from scurvy. Attaining the coast of Santa Isabel, in the Solomons, on 7 October 1769, they received a hostile reception at their first anchorage,[17] which they named Port Praslin.[16] The expedition tried for another anchorage but were unable to conduct any trade or even resupply their ship without being attacked by hostile islanders.[18]

At this time, the ship was short of fresh food and many of his crew had died from scurvy. Morale was low, not helped by the poor condition of the St. Jean Baptiste, which was leaking. Surville was forced to find a safe anchorage but he was unwilling to risk stopping at the Solomon Islands again. Instead, in early December, after consulting Tasman's charts, he headed for New Zealand. To avoid missing landfall due to errors in longitude, he first sailed south-west before turning eastwards at the latitude of northern New Zealand.[19]

New Zealand

On 12 December 1769 at 11:15am, the St. Jean Baptiste sighted the coastline of New Zealand and sailed to just off Hokianga, on the west coast of the northern part of the North Island. Finding the shore inhospitable, Surville sailed northwards. The weather deteriorated and the ship rounded North Cape on 16 December. As it did so, the French passed James Cook's Endeavour, with neither ship sighting the other due to the bad weather. Surprisingly, both Surville and Cook were navigating New Zealand waters at the same time, the only Europeans to do so since Abel Tasman, a century earlier.[20]

Surville sailed down the east coast until he reached what he called Lauriston Bay on 17 December 1769. However, Cook had already sailed past the bay less than two weeks earlier and had dubbed it Doubtless Bay.[20] Māori in canoes came out to the St. Jean Baptiste and engaged in some trading for fresh fish; this allayed some fears of the crew, aware that Tasman had experienced a hostile welcome on his arrival in New Zealand. Surville then took his ship deeper into the bay, anchoring late in the day off Tokerau Beach near Whatuwhiwhi.[21]

Going ashore the next day, Surville with some sailors and soldiers were greeted by a Māori chief who showed them to a source of water. The French were also given cresses and celery.[22] Over the next several days, the fresh food gathered or traded from the Māori helped the majority of the sick among the expedition to recover from their scurvy.[23] Father Paul-Antoine Léonard de Villefeix, the chaplain on the St Jean Baptiste, conducted the first Christian service in New Zealand when he celebrated Mass on Christmas Day 1769.[1]

Relations with the Māori began to deteriorate. In ignorance, in their actions with the locals, the French made some cultural blunders that would have caused offence to the local population; Surville touched the head of a chief, normally considered tapu, when presenting a gift of a white feather. In addition the bodies of those that died from scurvy had been thrown overboard into the bay, a custom normal to the French but disrespectful to the Māori, who fished the area. There may also been concern among the local Māori about the amount of food resources that the French were taking.[24]

A commemorative plaque marking the anchorage of the St. Jean Baptiste at Doubtless Bay, in New Zealand. It reads: "Jean François Marie de Surville anchored his ship "St Jean Baptiste" in Doubtless Bay 17–31 December 1769 to refresh his men. He visited a Pa on this headland, 30 December."

On 27 December a storm stranded a party of men on shore at Whatuwhiwhi, where they were treated hospitably by the local Māori. In the same storm, the ship dragged her anchors, which had to be cut. The ship's yawl, which was in tow, struck rocks and had to also be cut free.[25] After the storm passed, the stranded party had returned to the ship, which had suffered a broken tiller. On 31 December 1769, the yawl was spotted ashore on Tokerau Beach surrounded by Māori, and an armed party set off to retrieve it.[26] Surville considered the yawl had been stolen; however, by tradition, any flotsam washed ashore belong to the chief of the area. Reaching the beach, the French party found a group of Māori carrying spears, and the chief, Ranginui,[Note 1] approached Surville carrying a twig of green leaves as a sign of peace. Surville arrested Ranginui for the theft of his boat. His party burned about 30 huts, destroyed one canoe filled with nets, and confiscated another. They brought Ranginui back to their ship, where the crew members who had been stranded during the storm identified him as the chief who had been hospitable to them. Despite this, Surville was determined to keep his captive, and St Jean Baptiste sailed eastwards the same day with Ranginui on board.[28]

Voyage to South America

Surville, after consulting with his officers and considering the poor condition of his ship and crew, eliminated sailing north to the Philippines or the Dutch East Indies and instead decided to sail for South America.[29] This route took advantage of favourable winds and there was the prospect of discovering previously unknown lands as they tracked eastwards.[29] Surville was privately also still hopeful of locating Davis Land.[30] However, the Spanish considered their ports along the Pacific coast of South America off limits to other nations and there was a risk the French would be imprisoned on arrival. It was hoped that the existing alliance between France and Spain and an appeal to humanity would avoid this situation from arising.[31] The ship continued east to Peru across the Pacific. On 24 March 1770, as the ship approached the Juan Fernandez Islands, Ranginui died of scurvy.[32] Initially distressed at being kidnapped, he had been well treated and regularly dined with Surville.[33]

The expedition continued to suffer further loss of crew through scurvy, the first death since departing New Zealand occurring on 19 February 1770.[30] Early the following month, with water supplies low, Surville conceded defeat in his quest for Davis Land and set course for Peru.[34] They attained the settlement of Chilca, on the Peruvian coast, on 7 April 1770. The next day, Surville and three crew took a small boat to seek help from the Spanish Viceroy at Chilca for his men. In difficult conditions, the boat capsized and Surville and two others were drowned. His body was found by locals and was buried at Chilca.[35]

The St. Jean Baptiste was impounded by Spanish authorities and her surviving crew imprisoned for two years before being allowed to return to France.[36] When it anchored at Port-Louis, on the Brittany Coast, on 20 August 1770, only 69 crew of the original complement of 173 had completed Surville's expedition; 79 had died through sickness or attacks by hostile islanders, and another 28 had deserted.[37][Note 2]

Legacy

Despite being commercially unsuccessful, Surville's voyage allowed geographers of the time to confirm the size of the Solomon Islands and New Caledonia, and the likely non-existence of Davis Land. It provided further evidence that there was no large continent in the South Pacific and also contributed more knowledge of New Zealand and its inhabitants.[39]

Surville is remembered in New Zealand through the naming of the Surville Cliffs, the northernmost point of New Zealand's North Island. "Cap Surville" [sic] was the original name for what is now known as North Cape.[40] In 1969 at Whatuwhiwhi, a plaque was laid commemorating the visit of Surville to the area 200 years previously.[41] Two of the anchors of the St. Jean Baptiste that were lost at Doubtless Bay were recovered in 1974 and are displayed at the Far North Regional Museum at Kaitaia and Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in Wellington respectively.[42]

Notes

Footnotes

  1. ↑ In later accounts of the expedition, the French ascribed the chief the name 'Naguinoui' or 'Naquinovi'.[27]
  2. ↑ Two of these deserters were the chaplain, Villefeix, and Surville's nephew.[38]

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 Dunmore, John. "Surville, Jean François Marie de". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
  2. 1 2 Dunmore 1969, p. 18.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Salmond 2018, p. 311.
  4. ↑ Duyker 1994, p. 43.
  5. ↑ Dunmore 1969, pp. 20–21.
  6. ↑ Salmond 2018, pp. 311–312.
  7. ↑ Dunmore 1969, pp. 16–17.
  8. 1 2 3 Salmond 2018, p. 312.
  9. ↑ Dunmore 1969, p. 27.
  10. ↑ Dunmore 1969, pp. 25–26.
  11. ↑ Dunmore 1969, pp. 31–32.
  12. 1 2 Dunmore 1969, pp. 33–34.
  13. ↑ Dunmore 1969, p. 36.
  14. ↑ Dunmore 1969, pp. 36–37.
  15. ↑ Dunmore 1969, p. 40.
  16. 1 2 Dunmore 1969, p. 63.
  17. ↑ Salmond 2018, p. 316.
  18. ↑ Dunmore 1969, pp. 72–73.
  19. ↑ Salmond 2018, p. 317.
  20. 1 2 Salmon 2018, p. 317.
  21. ↑ Salmon 2018, pp. 321–322.
  22. ↑ Salmond 2018, pp. 323–324.
  23. ↑ Salmond 2018, pp. 329–331.
  24. ↑ Salmond 2018, pp. 329–332.
  25. ↑ Salmond 2018, pp. 336–337.
  26. ↑ Salmond 2018, p. 338.
  27. ↑ Salmond 2018, p. 340.
  28. ↑ Salmond 2018, pp. 339–340.
  29. 1 2 Dunmore 1969, p. 105.
  30. 1 2 Dunmore 1969, p. 110.
  31. ↑ Dunmore 1969, p. 106.
  32. ↑ Salmond 2018, p. 343.
  33. ↑ Dunmore 1969, p. 107.
  34. ↑ Dunmore 1969, pp. 111–112.
  35. ↑ Dunmore 1969, pp. 115–116.
  36. ↑ Quanchi 2005, p. 251.
  37. ↑ Dunmore 1969, p. 125.
  38. ↑ Dunmore 1969, p. 95.
  39. ↑ Quanchi 2005, p. 164.
  40. ↑ Reed 2002, p. 474.
  41. ↑ Parkes 1976, p. 25.
  42. ↑ "De Surville's anchor". Museum of New Zealand - Te Papa Tongarewa. Retrieved 15 August 2018.

References

  • Dunmore, John (1969). The Fateful Voyage of the St. Jean-Baptiste: A True Account M. de Surville's Expedition to New Zealand and the Unknown South Seas 1769-70. Christchurch, New Zealand: Pegasus Press. OCLC 610392600.
  • Duyker, Edward (1994). An Officer of the Blue: Marc-Joseph Marion Dufresne, 1724–1772. Carlton, Victoria, Australia: Melbourne University Press. ISBN 0-522-84565-7.
  • Parkes, W. F. (1976) [1965]. The Visitors Guide to the Far North: Mangonui County (3rd ed.). Kaitaia, New Zealand: Northland Tourist Publications. OCLC 973585408.
  • Quanchi, Max; Robson, John (2005). Historical Dictionary of the Discovery and Exploration of the Pacific Islands. Historical Dictionaries of Discovery and Exploration. 2. Lanham, Maryland, United States: The Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-5395-7.
  • Reed, A.W. (2002) [1975]. The Reed Dictionary of New Zealand Place Names. Auckland, New Zealand: Reed Books. ISBN 0-7900-0761-4.
  • Salmond, Anne (2018) [1991]. Two Worlds: First Meetings between Maori and Europeans 1642–1772. Auckland, New Zealand: Penguin Random House New Zealand. ISBN 978-0-14-377216-3.
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