[INDOCHINA] MANUSCRIPT. Jean-Marie DAYOT... - Lot 278 - Vermot et Associés

Lot 278
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[INDOCHINA] MANUSCRIPT. Jean-Marie DAYOT... - Lot 278 - Vermot et Associés
[INDOCHINA] MANUSCRIPT. Jean-Marie DAYOT : Information on the coast of Cochinchina. Written in Macao, October 1st 1807. In-folio paperback of 39 x 25 cm (small worm gallery on the first 4 ff. with qq losses of letters but not disturbing the reading). Precious manuscript of 18 pages, in a very legible but tight handwriting, divided into three chapters: 1/Information on the coast of Cochinchina; 2/Winds; current; 3/Description of the coast of Cochinchina; Extremely rare copy of an unpublished Manuscript, written by Jean-Marie DAYOT, giving many interesting information and descriptions as well as many explanations on how these observations were recorded and collected. Jean-Marie Dayot was a French naval officer and explorer, who came to the service of Nguyen Anh, future emperor Gia Long of Annam. His tumultuous life, his many adventures and the influence he exerted on the King is still very controversial today... He bore the titles of "Grand Admiral of the Anamite fleet", "Commander of the French ships of Anam", "Imperial Delegate" (Mandarin). He died in 1809 when his ship sank in the Gulf of Tonkin (Vietnam) at the age of 49. Jean Marie DAYOT came from a family of Saint-Alban, Planguenoual and Pléneuf in Brittany who settled in Mauritius. He joined the service of Nguyen Anh, future emperor Gia Long of Vietnam. After studying with the Jesuits in Vannes, he volunteered for the navy and arrived at Ile-de-France in 1778. A few years later, having become a lieutenant, he commanded the Adélaïde' and was sailing in October 1786 along the coast of India, sent by d' Entrecasteaux, governor general of the islands of France and Bourbon, to pick up a load of saltpetre in Muscat when his ship was attacked by Mahrat pirates in the port of Vizandrut, between Goa and Bombay. He lost his ship, was taken prisoner, suffered some abuse, but managed to escape. He then approached the Mahrat authorities in Pounah to obtain financial compensation for France for the loss of his ship and cargo. Some time later, in 1789, being in Pondicherry, he met Monseigneur Pigneaux de Béhaine, bishop of Adran, in Cochinchina, who was returning to France with the young Nguyen-Anh, son of the former emperor of Cochinchina Nguyen-Chong, whose other heirs had been massacred. He had taken refuge at the Court of the King of Siam, then become the protégé of the French bishop, who had taken him to France and received him at Versailles. A treaty was signed with France on November 28, 1787, but the French troops sent to help him reconquer his kingdom did not get beyond Pondicherry. Monseigneur de Béhaine then tried to charter some ships and to recruit European officers. Jean-Baptiste Dayot agreed to command two ships sent to Manila and Macao to search for arms and ammunition to be transported to Cochinchina on behalf of two merchants from Pondicherry. The bishop called upon him to organize the fleet of the future emperor, and in 1789, having become a mandarin at the Court of the King of Cochinchina under the name 'Dong-Hui', he commanded the corvette 'Dông-Nai'. In 1790, he was given an important command in the Annamite navy, which did not please the court mandarins. So when his ship was thrown ashore by a typhoon, they immediately had him sanctioned and put in the cangue in 1792. Monseigneur de Béhaine had great difficulty in preventing him from leaving, but he agreed to continue to serve the new emperor, until a new cabal, in 1795, decided to leave the country on board an English ship, with his brother Félix whom he had brought to Cochinchina to assist him. The two brothers thus left for Manila, which became their home port to sail in the Asian trade. In 1799, the two brothers were shipwrecked in the Bay of Bengal and lost their entire cargo. A few years later, Jean-Baptiste returned to Tonkin and worked on mapping all the coasts of the country. He made an atlas which he accompanied with a very detailed instruction that he sent to Paris. This precious information was inserted in the Neptune du Grand Océan et de l'archipel d'Asie. Captain de Kergariou who came to the region a few years later with the frigate 'Cléopâtre' confirmed the great accuracy of Jean-Baptiste's work. In 1792, he sank five ships, ninety galleys and about one hundred smaller boats of the Tay Son opposite Qui Nhon. In 1793, again at Qui Nhon, he captured sixty Tay Son galleys. Jean Marie Dayot also did considerable hydrographic work, surveying the Vietnamese coastline, whose charts were drawn by his brother Felix. He did
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