Globerovers Magazine, July 2019

and equipment for one of the sugar mills.
The ship’s bell was found among the remnants
and is now displayed in the Naval
Museum of Mahebourg.
Paul, awaiting the return of his beloved
Virginie, was witness to the ship in distress
from the shore. Paul braved the ocean and
swam to save his beloved who, modest and
chaste, refused to remove her clothes. Her
waterlogged Victorian attire dragged her
down and she drowned. Divers found a
ring which is believed to have belonged to
Virginie.
Of the 220 people on board, only eight
survived. Most survived the shipwreck but
drowned as they tried to swim against the
strong current to reach the shore.
Photo: Joa Kant
landmark, was named after Pieter Both.
In 1638, another Dutch settlement
began but soon failed again. By 1710 a third
attempt at Dutch colonisation had also
failed and the Dutch withdrew permanently.
Yann explains how it was common
practice around the world for people to
leave a light burning on shore. Destitute
ships and sailors would come towards the
light for help. They were subsequently
killed, and their ships plundered. However,
this apparently did not happen much in
Mauritius.
Sadly, the dodo, a small turkey-like
bird found only in Mauritius, became extinct
sometime between 1688 and 1715.
Pirates in Mauritian Waters
My favourite pirate story is that of John
Bowen.
In 1702 after a violent ruckus on board,
the pirate ship “Speaker” sank near Ile aux
Cerf, carrying cannons and treasure stolen
from Arab merchant ships. The first pirate
treasure ever found came from this pirate
ship. The wreck lies on a reef 2400m from
shore, so anything not yet retrieved now
lies scattered and probably deeply buried
over a large area.
John Bowen, a ridiculously wealthy
pirate, proved to be a generous pirate. He
shared the treasure retrieved from the ship
between all 130 of the pirates. These pirates
knew how to fight, and the locals didn’t.
Outnumbered by the pirates, locals
were very hospitable towards them. I would
also have been. The locals invited these
pirates to dine with them and tried to poison
their food. However, the wily pirates
cottoned on to this ploy and were not so
easily fooled.
In the end, after a few large bribes, the
Dutch governor befriended the pirates and
allowed them to buy a sloop, a single mast
sailing boat, which they converted into a
brigantine, a two-masted boat. They left
the island on good terms.
All is Fair in Love and War
In 1715 the French East India Company
claimed Mauritius, renaming it Isle de
France. They settled down and imported
slaves. Port Louis was built and transformed
into a well-defended naval base
with a state-of-the-art naval workshop.
In 1744 “Saint Géran” sank on the
northeast coast. A small monument at
Poudre d’Or marks the spot of this tragedy.
This shipwreck has left traces in literature.
The story of Paul et Virginie is the “Romeo
and Juliet” of shipwrecks. The “Saint
Géran” was carrying silver coins, slaves
The book by Bernardin de Saint-Pierre,
first published in 1788, tells that Paul later
died of a broken heart.
By the early 1800s, Great Britain had
its eyes set on capturing the island due to
its strategic position.
A famous naval battle ensued—the
only naval battle won by Napoleon. The
Battle of Grand Port was fought in August
1810 between squadrons of frigates from
the French Navy and the British Royal
Navy over possession of the harbour of
Grand Port. The British lost. It was the
greatest naval defeat ever suffered by the
Royal Navy during the entire war.
Humiliated and upset, the British
ambushed the island four months later, in
November 1810, sneaking in with ships
and soldiers from behind the islands in the
north. They attacked, and the French were
defeated in battle at Cap Malheureux. The
British forces claimed Mauritius.
Slaves, Whiskey and Brawls
By the early 1800s, ships were so large
that they often ended up close to shore
when they hit the reef, carried by the sheer
momentum of the weighty vessels. Accessible
shipwrecks were used to repair other
ships, so the keel and ballast are probably
all that remain of most shipwrecks.
In March 1821 “Le Coureur” crashed
into the reefs. It had been waiting offshore
to deliver a cargo of slaves to French
colonists residing in the British colony
of Mauritius. However, the ship’s voyage
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