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• 1 2021-08-13T13:55:31-04:00 The Voyage of the Dauphin (1749-1750) 13 Lorient - Gorée - Mascarenes - Ascension - Lorient plain 2022-05-05T13:44:46-04:00 01/25/1749 - 06/15/1750 The Dauphin was a slave ship vessel owned by the French East India Company. It was built at the Lorient Dockyard in 1748. It had 20 cannons, a crew of 152, and a cargo capacity of 700 tonnes. Under the command of Captain Jean-Baptiste de Lesquelen, the Dauphin travelled to the Mascarene Islands by way of Gorée, West Africa. It spent over six months in the Indian Ocean before making its way back to Europe, stopping at Ascension Island along the way.
  
  A Jean-Marie Tréguier, son of Joséph, is listed as a cabin boy who worked the duration of this voyage. It is quite possible this is our Joséph Tréguier, going by a given name other than the one he shared with his father. He is described as a 10-year-old cabin boy, and he earned a monthly wage of 6 livres.
  
  The Dauphin left Lorient on 25 March 1749. 
  
  It first stop was at Gorée Island, a French trading post in West Africa, where it arrived on 17 April. Here, the Dauphin purchased 52 enslaved Africans to take to the Mascarenes. Considered goods and not passengers, the slaves are not listed on the rôles. Nine days later, the ship set sail for the Mascarenes. 
  
  After 112 days at sea, the Dauphin landed at Port Louis, Île de France (Mauritius) on 16 October 1749. Here, they sold the enslaved Africans they had purchased at Gorée. There is no record of how many of these captives survived the crossing. In their vast study of the Transatlantic slave trade, Eltis and Richardson demonstrate that longer voyages are generally associated with higher mortality rates. According to their estimates for the same period, a voyage of 112 days could easily expect a mortality rate of 14 to 20 percent, so it is statistically probable that seven or more captives died along the way.
  
  The Dauphin, spent over six months in the Mascarenes. Most of this time was spent at Port Louis on Île de France, but the is record of three brief trips over to Île Bourbon (Réunion).
  
  On 7 March 1750, the ship departed for its passage back to Europe. On its return voyage, the Dauphin made a brief stop at Ascension Island in the South Atlantic.
  
  The ship arrived back at Lorient on 15 June 1750. It had been away from Europe for nearly 15 months. If this was Joséph Tréguier's first voyage it must have been a trying time, being away from home for so long. Like any voyage, the ship experienced rigours. Several crew members had disembarked due to illness, while nine had died along the way, along with, undoubtedly, several of the enslaved Africans. But, assuming this is the same person, Joséph Tréguier was not deterred from a life at sea; three years later he was back at it.