Sosthène Héliodore Camille Mortenol (; 29 November 1859 – 22 December 1930) was a senior officer in the French Navy under the Third Republic and graduate of the École polytechnique. He fought in several of France's colonial campaigns of the era and commanded Paris's anti-aircraft defences during the First World War.
Life Family origins Mortenol was born on 29 November 1859 at a house at the junction of rue de Nozières and rue de l'Abbé Grégoire in Pointe-à-Pitre (the house survives and the town council placed a plaque on it on the centenary of his birth), Mortenol, ou, Les infortunes de la servitude, p47 ANOM, État civil de Pointe-à-Pitre, naissances, 1859 (vue 105/112, acte no. 396) a town still suffering the after-effects of the 1843 Guadeloupe earthquake. From a modest background, he was the third and last child of a man named André, born in Africa around 1809 and freed from slavery on 23 July 1847 aged 38. ANOM, État civil de Pointe-à-Pitre, naissances, 1847 (vue 71/98, acte no. 375) He bought his freedom for 2400 francs by a decree of the governor of Guadeloupe, Mortenol, ou, Les infortunes de la servitude, p44 André had then declared to the royal commissioner accepting his money "You captured me in the land of Africa to enslave me. Today give me my liberty!. On being freed André took the surname Mortenol and on 18 August 1855 married the seamstress Julienne Toussaint at Pointe-à-Pitre on 18 August 1855. ANOM, État civil de Pointe-à-Pitre, mariages, 1855 (vue 23/41, acte no. 31)
At the time of Camille's birth, André was working as a sailmaker and later (according to some business documents) a master sailmaker. Camille's elder brother Eugène André was born in Pointe-à-Pitre on 7 June 1856, ANOM, État civil de Pointe-à-Pitre, naissances, 1856 (vue 49/96, acte no. 186 whilst his younger sister Marie Adèle was born on 27 June 1858, again in Pointe-à-Pitre. ANOM, État civil de Pointe-à-Pitre, naissances, 1858 (vue 66/104, acte no. 247) Pointe-à-Pitre's registers of births, marriages and deaths record a Sosthène Héliodore Camille Mortenol born to André Mortenol and Julienna Toussaint on 29 November 1859 and dying on 25 June 1885 ANOM, État civil de Pointe-à-Pitre, décès, 1885, (vue 62/132, acte no. 361) a death also recorded in the Le Courrier de la Guadeloupe as "25 – Mortenol (Sosthène-Eléodore-Camille), aged 26 years, sailmaker". Did the declared death usurp the identity of someone who was actually still alive?
Oruno D. Lara's Mortenol, ou, Les infortunes de la servitude argues that the eldest son Eugène André was a brilliant scholar at the town school in Pointe-à-Pitre and so André's friends convinced him that Eugene André's educational success would be best served by enrolling him at the diocesan seminary-college in Basse-Terre under the less-gifted Camille's identity. Such a change of identity could have operated discretely, far from his relations and friends in Pointe-à-Pitre. Knocking these three years off his age nevertheless allowed Sosthène Héliodore Camille to have a secondary education up to baccalauréat level and then free higher studies without any suspicion of the fate they would offer him.
Education
Sosthène Héliodore Camille Mortenol began his external studies under the Brothers of Christian Instruction's primary school on rue Schoelcher in Pointe-à-Pitre and then began at the diocesan seminary-college in Basse-Terre founded by Monsignor Pierre Lacarrière on 1 January 1852. His good results, notably in mathematics, brought him to the attention of Victor Schœlcher, who gave him help and support He also benefitted from a 50% government bursary (decreed on 30 November 1875), which completed the 50% local bursary and a paid-for voyage to France aboard Le Finistère for secondary education at the Lycée Montaigne in Bordeaux.
In 1877 Camille Mortenol obtained his baccalauréat ès sciences and then began preparing for the entrance examination to the École polytechnique; he came nineteenth out of 209 applicants. École Polytechnique registration form for S.H.C. Mortenol At the same time he was also offered a place at the École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr but preferred the Polytechnique, which he entered on 1 November 1880, Mortenol Camille (X 1880)
This made him the third black man, the first Guadeloupean and the first man both of whose parents were black to enter the Polytechnique – the two previous black students were Auguste-François Perrinon (joined 1832, École Polytechnique registration form for F.A. Périnon the mixed race son of a freed slave) and the Creole Charles Wilkinson (joined 1849), École Polytechnique registration form for C.A.J. Wilkinson both from Martinique. At the séance des cotes read online) he was welcomed on these terms by the ans read online) (the "anciens", the argot term for those in their second year), who created the cote nègre for the occasion: read online
Another famous anecdote states that Patrice de MacMahon, visiting the École in 1881, said to Mortenol "Is it you, the black man? Very good my friend. Carry on."
His scholarly ability was remarkable – 30th on his graduation to the first division – and on his full graduation in 1882 he was eighteenth in a class of 205. Camille Mortenol chose a career as a naval officer (the first of four graduates of the Polytechnique to choose that corps) and he was admitted to the navy on 1 October 1882.
Naval officer 1882–1890 He boarded the armed second-class transport frigate Alceste at Brest to begin his naval apprenticeship. On 1 October 1882, whilst still aboard her, he was promoted to midshipman ("aspirant") first class. Journal officiel, 2 September 1882 read online Just afterwards he took part in a training cruise along the African coast. At the end of this period, praised by his superior officers, he transferred to the ironclad Amiral Duperré, on which he sailed across the Mediterranean Sea between November 1883 and May 1884.
The following month he was sent to Rochefort on the aviso Bisson, named after Hippolyte Magloire Bisson, which was sent on the first Madagascar expedition, his first campaign. He was promoted to ensign ("enseigne de vaisseau") on 1 October 1884. On 17 December 1885, the day after a peace treaty was signed, he could finally return to France, arriving there in March 1886 after two years at sea. He was next attached to the naval division of the Levant and served as second-in-command of the gunboat Capricorne in the Indian Ocean. He then moved back aboard the Alceste as her second in command from October 1887 to July 1889, though by then she was a hospital ship at Libreville. On 25 August 1889, whilst still aboard the Alceste, he was promoted to lieutenant ("lieutenant de vaisseau").
1890–1900 In winter 1890 he visited his family on Guadeloupe and spent a few weeks convalescing there. This was his last-ever visit to the island, although he retained links with it, writing several articles for local newspapers such as Les Nouvellistes and meeting fellow Guadeloupeans based in Paris. On his return to mainland France he took an apprenticeship on the Algésiras, then anchored at Toulon as a torpedo training school. He remained aboard her from August to December 1890 and graduated from her as a torpedo officer.
In March 1891 he was sent to the mobile defences of Cherbourg and put in command of the torpedo boat Dehorter, launched in 1910 and (after another launched in 1884) the second torpedo boat to be named after Pierre Charles Henri Dehorter (1867-1884). Pierre Charles Henri Dehorter (1867-1884) A year later, in April 1892, he was transferred to the reserve squadron for the western Mediterranean and the Levant as chief torpedo officer of the cruiser Amiral Cécille, but that was a very brief posting as in January 1894 he was made chief artillery officer of the coastguard ironclad Jemmapes.
The same year he was attached to the expeditionary course sent to conquer Madagascar. General Jacques Charles René Achille Duchesne was put in command and the naval division was led by captain Amédée Bienaimé. Mortenol took part in several land battles, including the capture of the Malagasy forts or rovas at Marovoay on 2 May 1895. read online and Maevatanana on 9 June the same year After the capture of Tananarive on 30 September 1895 by the French expeditionary force, Martenol was one of the officers for in Gallieni's entourage and on 19 August 1895 was rewarded for his bravery by being made a chevalier of the Légion d'honneur, presented in person by president Félix Faure. - the citation stated he had been in the navy for 16 years 10 months, of which 11 years 6 months had been spent at sea. Journal officiel, 2 September 1895 He was also awarded the Madagascar commemorative medal.
In May 1896 he began two years aboard the cruiser Fabert as its second in command under its commander capitaine de frégate Pierre Georges Fernand Forestier. He therefore sailed near Madagascar again and Forestier wrote on 15 August 1896: In May 1898, weakened by the malaria which plagued him throughout his career, he returned to mainland France aboard the packet boat Pei Ho. paquebot Pei Ho des Messageries Maritimes
After some time convalescing, he was attached to the mobile defences of Toulon and served in several buildings. He went back to sea in 1898, again aboard the Algésiras and at the torpedo school, Journal officiel, 12 October 1898 read online Journal officiel, 3 December 1898 read online then he was ordered to join the training-ship Couronne. Journal officiel, 30 October 1898 read online In a note dated 25 July 1899 captain Jean Baptiste Pierre Jules Arden, commander of the mobile defences, wrote of Mortenol:
1900–1908
Mortenol was ordered to take command of a torpedo boat attached to Toulon's mobile defences on 14 February 1899 Journal officiel, 16 February 1899, read online before taking command of a second-class group of torpedo boats within the reserve squadron on 1 March 1900, Journal officiel, 4 February 1900, read online consisting of the Aventurier and the Argonaute. During summer 1900 he was sent back to Africa and on 19 July that year he was put in command of the Alcyon, a paddle-boat aviso stationed at Libreville Journal officiel, 2 June 1900, read online For rescuing ships in difficulty during that command he was in 1909 awarded the Prussian Order of the Crown Camille Mortenol, un officier de Marine noir (1859-1930) and thanks from Spain for rescuing ships in difficulty. He then travelled along the surrounding rivers and coasts, notably taking part in the repression of local uprisings (the Ogooué expedition).
In June 1902 he had to return to mainland France again to convalesce Journal officiel, 31 October 1902, read online and on 9 September that year in the 14th arrondissement of Paris he married Marie-Louise Vitalo (17 May 1866, Cayenne - 28 July 1912, Brest Brest, décès, 1912), the widow of a mathematics teacher. Paris XIV°, mariages, 1902 - the couple had no children. Once that period of convalescence was complete he was sent to join the naval staff in Bresst in January 1903. Later in 1903 Mortenol made another request to be admitted to the École supérieure de Marine, which could earn him the rank of admiral. Brest's maritime prefect ranked him first out of the five candidates and gave a particularly complimentary reference, but the naval minister did not accept his application, perhaps due to his skin colour or due to the Affair of the Cards. He was at least promoted to "capitaine de frégate" on 7 April 1904 and was put in command of the armored cruiser Bruix.