Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
north of Martinique, in the summer of 1757. British naval captains could claim prize money
by presenting the papers of a captured enemy ship to the court.
Le Constant
was pronounced
a legitimate prize of war at the Vice-Admiralty Court on Anguilla in October 1757, and the
two hessian sacks of the ship's papers were kept as evidence.
This manuscript map gives a general view of the interior of Martinique with its hilly ter-
rain, trees, settlements and roads. It shows detail around the coast with ports, harbours, head-
lands and islands. Below the title in its decorative cartouche is a note 'Lauteur de lisle' which
suggests that the map was perhaps copied from one by the important early 18th century
French cartographer Guillaume Delisle. His original manuscript map of Martinique held at
the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris has the title, scale bar and compass rose in the same parts
of the map, with similar detail of coast and hills, and using the same place names and an-
chorage symbol locations. Whatever its source, this manuscript map is evidence of the kind
of working map used on board a French merchant ship, which by the nature of paper and the
rigours of sea life have rarely survived.
The working papers among which the map was found cast light on shipboard life in the
mid 18th century. They include a crew list, table of cargo, ship's log, a list of suppliers and
account topics. There are many papers of the captain, Henri Balthazard Duprat, which form
a vivid snapshot of his life at the moment his ship was seized. These include a handwritten
copy of his birth certificate, a number of hand-drawn playing cards tucked in the cover of his
notebook, and even a sheet of blotting paper. Promissory notes (notes of debits and credits)
include one recording the loan of 'a negro cook' when his own ship's cook fell sick. Duprat's
pocketbook contains notes about how to use marine charts.
The annual pilot's licence issued by Marseille port authorities for a year from 1756 notes
that Duprat was then aged 32, and unmarried. His notebook contains drafts of his letters. To
his lady friend he expressed his deep affection, saying that not a day passed without him
thinking of her and he then goes on to mention marriage. To his brother in Marseille he wrote
that '
ces voyages sont tres penibles et dangereux
' - and it had certainly proved a hard and
dangerous voyage for him.
