{"id":40448,"date":"2026-08-13T09:00:03","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T05:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lagazette-mag.io\/tromelin-lessons-from-a-shipwreck\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T09:00:03","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T05:00:03","slug":"tromelin-lessons-from-a-shipwreck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lagazette-mag.io\/en\/tromelin-lessons-from-a-shipwreck\/","title":{"rendered":"Tromelin: Lessons from a Shipwreck"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/b><\/b>Several books have been written about the sinking of <\/b>L\u2019Utile<\/i><\/b><\/span> off Tromelin Island on the night of July 31 to August 1<\/b>August<\/sup><\/b><\/span> August 1761, and to the fate of its crew and <\/b>the <\/b><\/span>its abandoned enslaved people.<\/b><\/b> But<\/b>,<\/b><\/span> for the first time, an author from the region retells this story from the captives\u2019 perspective\u2026 <\/b>Dominique Bellier<\/em><\/p>\n

From Bayonne, the Utile<\/i><\/span> had a crew of 142 sailors on board, and then,<\/span> after illegally taking on board 160 Malagasy men, women, and children at Foulpointe, was transporting them to\u00cele<\/span>de France (formerly Mauritius) as slaves. Eighty of the latter survived the shipwreck, and 122 sailors managed to set sail again in a galley built from the wreckage, promising to return to rescue those they had left behind. Fifteen years later, Chevalier Tromelin finally landed to rescue the seven women who had survived, along with a baby. Since the 2006 archaeological excavations, several accounts, novels, and comic books have been published in France. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve read these books,\u201d Jean-Claude de L\u2019Estrac explains, \u201cbut every time, I\u2019ve noticed a flaw\u2026\u201d <\/span>Slaves exist there only from the moment they are locked in the holds of L\u2019Utile<\/i><\/span>, as if they had previously had no activities, no life, or even no culture of their own. Yet if<\/span> they managed to survive for years on that sandy islet, it is because they possessed intrinsic qualities that enabled them to build shelters and make objects, and to recreate the conditions necessary for life.\u201d <\/p>\n

Published by Le Printemps, *Les fant\u00f4mes de Tromelin*<\/i> is unique in that it begins in Madagascar with a credible reconstruction of the lives of Malagasy villagers in Imerina, followed by accounts of the moments when they were rounded up and transported to Foulpointe. This hybrid of novel and historical account recounts the shipwreck, explores its causes, and then details the various stages of survival on the sandy island\u2014this time<\/span> from the perspective of the captives. Originating from our region, it recounts the entire tragedy, right down to the mistreatment subsequently endured by five female survivors whohad<\/span> neverthelessbeen declared<\/span> free in Mauritius. The author has only one regret: not having been able to trace a connection between the families living in Mauritius today and L\u2019Utile<\/i><\/span>, the only ship to have borne that name ,<\/span> whose existence was limited to that fateful end\u2026 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Several books have been written about the sinking of L\u2019Utile off Tromelin Island on the night of July 31 to August 1August August 1761, and to the fate of its crew and the its abandoned enslaved people. But, for the first time, an author from the region retells this story from the captives\u2019 perspective\u2026 Dominique […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":40449,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1776],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-culture-en"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t