History
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The ship Persévérant
On 11 June 1838, 'Le Persévérant' was registered as a three-masted vessel of 335 tons, built in 1836 at Redon for the owner Mr Louis Marie of Binic, Côtes d'Armor, and registered as No. 60 at Binic on 6 September 1836. It left Binic on 29 June 1838 to fish for whales commissioned as 'No 114 Saint Brieuc' (the number relating to its commissioning or Armement) under the command of Captain Duval.
The first voyage of the Persévérant to the South Seas
For the Persévérant's first voyage it had a crew of 5 officers (including the surgeon Jean Marie Chaumont) and 28 men, 33 in total. All were paid by share, according to the tradition of commissioning the Binic whalers. These ranged from 1/14 for the captain to 1/300 for the ship's boys; going from 1/115 for Alexis Briand, harpooner from Saint Brieuc, to 1/150 for Saint Brieuc sailor and sailmaker Jean Claude Orhan. The crew were all paid an advance before departing on the voyage, the amounts again being variable. They ranged between 60 francs for the ship's boys and 300 francs for the second captain, first lieutenant and the surgeon. Both the owner, Louis Marie, and the Captain, Yves Marie Augustin Duval were required to sign a statement at the end of the roll acknowledging the amount of the calculated advances (5340 francs); that only the persons listed would embark on the ship; and, agreeing to certain terms and conditions for the voyage such as providing the crew with rations in the regulated quantity and quality, dealing with the sick or deceased persons, and so on.
Duval was 28 years old at the time of his appointment to Persévérant and came from Morlaix where he obtained his certificate of Master Mariner (Capitaine au long cours). This was his first command although he already had good experience of the whale fishery in the South Seas.
The last voyage of the Persévérant
Rumours about the loss of the Persévérant were confirmed in Le Français de l'Oeust (23 October 1841, No. 55: 223), a political journal appearing at Saint Brieuc. The article deplored the loss of 'this beautiful ship'. The journal then quotes the account of the disaster as reported in the Journal du Hâvre:
"We have announced the loss of the whaler Persévérant on the coast of New Holland, and the arrival in Batavia, in early July of one of the four whale-boats in which the crew saved themselves. "
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Duval's report and letter to the Ministry of Marine and the Colonies account for what happened. In March 1841 Duval had anchored his ship in Shark Bay and established a tent on the deserted island of Dirk Hartog in order to land some men to catch turtles and other refreshments when for 3 days a violent storm caused his ship to drag on the reefs where it perished.
They stayed on the island until 30 May hoping to see some ships appear in the large bay that could save them. But tired of useless waiting and privations, and having already lost five men since the wrecking of the ship, they took the decision to embark in the whale-boats to risk a journey of about 600 miles (over 1000 km) to the island of Lombok, the winds not permitting them to go and find a closer English establishment.
Of four whale-boats, one was rescued by an English ship the Elisa. The one with the Captain and five persons on board arrived at Java at the NE of the island, from where they got to Batavia by land, after having exchanged their boat for arms for security, and finishing by selling their arms for food. Nothing was thus saved from this 'bel armament' (beautiful ship).
