The Slaves of Tromelin Island

On the night of July 31, 1761, a frigate of the French East India Company named Utile , captained by Jean de La Fargue, and carrying a contraband of African slaves ran aground on a small, flat island located about 500 km north of Réunion and about 450 km east of Madagascar. The ship was carrying on its hold some 160 slaves consisting of men, women and children, bound for Mauritius where the slaves would have been sold to plantation owners. Although slavery was legal at the time, de Lafargue was not authorized by colonial authorities to trade in slaves. In addition, the ship was also carrying a French crew of 140 men. Tromelin Island, formerly “Île des Sables”. Photo: Richard Bouet The inaccuracy of the maps combined with the stubbornness of the captain drove the ship onto the reefs off the islet’s north end. The impact shattered the hull and the ship began to take in water. Most of the slaves, who were trapped in the cargo hold, drowned, but some managed to escape as the ship broke apart. The next morning, 122 of the 140 members of the crew and somewhere between 60 and 80 Malagasy slaves found themselves stranded on Île des Sables (Island of Sand). Captain Jean de Lafargue suffered some kind of a nervous breakdown as a result of the wreck, so first officer Barthélémy Castellan du Vernet took over. He rallied the crew to salvage food, tools, and timber from the wreck and build separate camps for the crew and the slaves. They dug a well 5 meters deep, built an oven and a furnace, and work began on a new boat. Within two months Providence emerged from the remains of Utile. On 27 September 1761, the 122 surviving French sailors boarded Providence and set sail for Madagascar, promising the Malagasy slaves that a ship would return for them. After four days of sailing, Providence arrived in Madagascar, and the crew was transferred back to Réunion Island and Mauritius. During the transit, many men died of tropical diseases.