Robert Surcouf (; 12 December 1773 – 8 July 1827) was a French privateer, businessman and slave trader who operated in the Indian Ocean from 1789 to 1808 during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Capturing over 40 prizes, he later amassed a large fortune from a variety of commercial activities, such as ship-owning, privateering, slave trading and owning land.Alain Roman; summary on Robert Surcouf , www.netmarine.net
Surcouf started his maritime career as an officer on the ships Aurore, Courrier d'Afrique, and Navigateur. Having risen to the rank of captain, he illegally engaged in slave trading onboard the slave ship Créole. Surcouf then captained the merchantman , on which he engaged in commerce raiding despite lacking a letter of marque. He preyed on British shipping, capturing several merchantmen including the East Indiaman , before returning to the Isle de France where his prizes were confiscated. Surcouf then returned to France, where he obtained prize money from the government. Returning to the Indian Ocean, Surcouf captained the privateers Clarisse and Confiance, raiding British, American, and Portuguese shipping. He captured the East Indiaman on 7 October 1800. Returning to France, Surcouf was awarded the Legion of Honour and settled down as a businessman.
He briefly returned to the Indian Ocean in 1807 on the corvette before returning to France. There, Surcouf sponsored privateers and merchantmen, including slave ships. His privateers led campaigns against British trade in the Indian Ocean and the English Channel. The cutter , a ship of his, achieved fame in her victory over on 9 September 1812, with Alphea exploding after repulsing French attempts at boarding her. After the Bourbon Restoration in France, Surcouf organised fishing expeditions to Newfoundland and amassed a considerable fortune. He died in 1827 and was buried in Saint-Malo.
Career
Youth Robert Surcouf was born 12 December 1773 in Saint-Malo to a family of ship-owners.Levot, p. 493 His father, Charles-Ange Surcouf de Boisgris, was the grandson of Robert Surcouf de Maisonneuve,Cunat, p.145 who had captained the privateer Aimable during the reign of Louis XIV.Cunat, p. 390 On his mother's side, Robert was a distant relative of René Duguay-Trouin.Hennequin, p. 378 When his parents sent him to Dinan college to become a priest, he fled at age thirteen to enlist on the merchantman Héron, which shuttled between Saint-Malo and Cádiz.Granier, p. 216
On 3 March 1789, he enlisted as a volunteer on the 700-ton Aurore, a slave ship bound for India under Captain Tardivet. Aurore sailed to Pondicherry and ferried troops bound for Isle de France. On her next journey, seeking to purchase slaves on the Horn of Africa, Aurore was wrecked in the Mozambique Channel, drowning 400 enslaved Africans chained in the orlop. Tardivet chartered the Portuguese San Antoine in October 1790 to return to Port-Louis, but had to divert to Sumatra because of the weather, and only returned to Port-Louis in late 1790, on a French ship via the French colony of Pondicherry. Promoted to officer, Surcouf enlisted on the Courrier d'Afrique, another slave ship, bound for Mozambique under Captain Garnier. Captain Tardivet then brought him over as Lieutenant on his new ship, Revanche.Levot, p. 494 On Revanche, Surcouf made several expeditions off Madagascar.
Surcouf enlisted as a helmsman on the French Royal Navy's 20-gun fluyt , under Lieutenant Haumont,Roche, p. 74 bound for France.Cunat, p. 391 Bienvenue arrived at Lorient on 2 January 1792, where Surcouf discovered the political changes France had undergone in the wake of the French Revolution.
After six months, Surcouf enlisted as a lieutenant on the slave ship Navigateur, under Captain Lejoliff. She departed on 27 August 1792 for Mozambique before sailing to Isle de France, where Surcouf was informed on his arrival of the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars.
Rising to the rank of captain, Surcouf took command of the brig Créole, a four-gun slave ship. He departed Isle de France on 3 June 1794 for a journey off Africa and Madagascar, and engaged again in slave trading, even though it had been prohibited by the National Convention and the Assembly of Île Bourbon.Granier, p. 217. Upon his return to Isle de France, agents of the Committee of Public Safety inspected Créole for evidence of slave trading, but left empty-handed as Surcouf had already sold his enslaved cargo. When British naval forces arrived to blockade the Isle de France, he served as an auxiliary ensign on the 40-gun frigate and participated in the inconclusive Action of 22 October 1794.
Cruise of Émilie and capture of Triton
In the spring in 1795, Surcouf took command of the 180-ton, privateer schooner Modeste, renamed Émilie, with a 32-man crew and four 6-pounder guns, armed by Malroux and Levaillant.Cunat, p. 392 Governor Malartic refused to provide a lettre de marque and ordered Émilie to go to the Seychelles to purchase tortoises as food for Isle de France.
Émilie departed on 3 September 1795 with a authorising her to defend herself, but not to take prizes as a privateer. The next day, she made a port call at Saint-Denis before cruising to Mahé. At Sainte Anne Island, two large British ships chased him, but he was able to evade them by sailing through the reefs, at night.
Surcouf then decided to sail to the Mergui Archipelago to load a rice cargo.Cunat, p. 393 On 8 December 1795, while in transit, cruising off the Ganges Delta,Rouvier, p. 254 Surcouf captured his first prize, the ship Penguin, loaded with lumber, on which he detached a prize crew under Lieutenant Péru before sending her to Isle de France.
On 19 January 1796, Surcouf met the pilot ship leading two merchantmen, Russel and Sambolasse, through the Ganges delta. He attacked and captured them, finding the merchantmen to be carrying rice. After detaching prize crews, Surcouf transferred his command, along with his remaining 22 crew members and Émilies four guns, to Cartier, which (according to Ambroise Louis Garneray) he renamed Hasard. Surcouf then sent Émilie, under Lieutenant Croizet, together with his prizes, to Isle de France.Cunat, p. 394
On the night of 28 January, Surcouf captured the 12-gun Diana, loaded with 6,000 bags of rice.Rouvier, p. 252 The next day, Cartier met a 26-gun Indiaman, , armed with 12-pounders and a 150-man crew; having decided to attack, and recognising only too late the overwhelming superiority of his opponent, Surcouf, feeling threatened and unable to flee, decided to board her with his 26 men. After haranguing his men, he approached under a British flag,Rouvier, p. 253 before hoisting French colours at the very last moment and launching a violent assault.Cunat, p. 395 In the ensuing 45-minute battle, Triton suffered five wounded and ten killed,Hennequin, p. 380 including her captain, Captain Burnycat, and the first officer, Picket; The prisoners were transferred to Diana, which Surcouf released against a 30,000 rupee ransom.Granier, p. 218
Surcouf returned to Ile de France with his prizes, where he arrived on 10 March 1796, although Hasard was captured by on the journey back.Demerliac, p. 309, no 2915 As Émilie had been armed as a merchant rather than a privateer, the prize court seized her prizes and sold them for the benefit of the State, although their capture was declared to be legal. Surcouf returned to France to claim his prize money, and on 3 September 1797, the government finally granted him 660,000 francs, of which he only received 80,000.
Cruise of Clarisse
In early 1798, after 14 months in Paris, Surcouf took command of Clarisse, a 14-gun privateer brig armed with four 12-pounders, ten 8-pounders, and manned by a 120-strong complement.Rouvier, p. 447 He departed from Paimboeuf, Nantes, in February 1798,Cunat, p. 396 this time with a proper lettre de marque. During the journey to Isle de France, Clarisse chased a British slave ship, which escaped after one of her shots cut off Clarisses foremast tops.Levot, p. 495 Surcouf captured a British brig South of Cape of Good Hope, which surrendered after a warning shot was fired, on which he sent a prize crew under Captain Dujardin, and arrived La Réunion on 5 December.
In early 1799, Surcouf sailed to the city of SusohGranier, p. 223Hennequin, p. 381 in Aceh, on Sumatra, where he found two 20-gun merchantmen anchored in the harbour, in the process of loading pepper; Clarisse dropped anchor close by and opened fire, after which Surcouf sent his older brother Nicolas to head a 20-man board party on Clarisses boats and board the largest of the ships, while he boarded her with Clarisse from the opposite side; assaulted from two sides, she surrendered after a 30-minute battle.Hennequin, p. 382 The other ship cut her anchor and attempted to flee, but the boats of Clarisse overhauled and captured her without resistance, most of her crew being ashore. Surcouf returned to Île de France with his prizes in June.
On 16 August, Clarisse departed Isle de France for another cruise; she sailed to La Réunion carrying despatches of Malartic to the governor. She then cruised to Java to procure water,Rouvier, p. 448 where she arrived on 27 September.Cunat, p. 397 On 1 October, Surcouf captured a Danish merchantman, which he sent away under Lieutenant Fonroc; on 4 November, the Portuguese merchantman Nostra Signora de la Conception carrying 116,000 piastres;Granier, p. 224 on 6 November, a British ship laden with a salt; and on 11 November, the 20-gun Auspicious, with a cargo worth 1,032,580 francs.
Surcouf sailed to Mergui to purchase food and free his prisoners, and put to sail on 10 December. En route, he met the fellow French privateer Malartic, under Jean Dutertre; soon after, the privateers met a British frigate, 38-gun frigate HMS Sybille, which gave chase and which Surcouf managed to outsail by throwing eight guns overboard, along with various other implements.
On 1 January 1800, Clarisse captured a large rice-laden merchantman, the British James. On 3 January, she detected two American 16-carronade ships forming a line of battle; although Clarisse lacked the eight guns sacrificed to escape Sybille and 60 of her men detached on her various prizes, Surcouf engaged.Rouvier, p. 449 Clarisse raked the rear-most ship, Louisa, and boarded her, while simultaneously firing a broadside on the other ship, Mercury, which attempted to rescue her mate. Nicolas Surcouf led a 30-man boarding party to seize Louisa, while Mercury escaped. Clarisse could not give chase, her bowsprit having been destroyed in the collision with Louisa.Hennequin, p. 383 Nicolas Surcouf took a prize crew and sailed Louisa back to Port Louis.Austen (1935), pp. 93–94.
Clarisse continued her patrol, capturing the ships Catherine, Haderbux, Anna Maria, Nostra Signora de la Cruz, Louis, Janna, Notre Dame de Bon Succès, and Albion, before sailing back to Isle de France with her prizes. She arrived in early February 1800.
Cruise of Confiance and capture of Kent
In May 1800, Surcouf took command of , a fast 18-gun brig from Bordeaux, with a 150-man complement; the competition with Dutertre for the captainship of Confiance almost degenerated into a duel, and Governor Malartic had to intervene to prevent it, stating that such a confrontation would be "an English victory".Granier, p. 219 The sailor and painter Ambroise Louis Garneray, future biographer of Surcouf, enlisted at this time.
In late April 1800, Confiance cruised off Sunda Strait, where she captured an American ship; she then left the strait to avoid the frigate ,Robert Surcouf, ageofsail.wordpress.com which was known to cruise in these waters, and sailed to the Seychelles. There, he escaped a British ship of the line and a frigate, and sailed on to cruise the Bay of Bengal.Rouvier, p. 526