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• 1 2021-08-14T15:15:28-04:00 The Voyage of the Bien-Aimé (1758) 6 Mascarenes - India plain 2021-08-26T10:50:10-04:00 01/13/1758 - 04/29/1758 The Bien-Aimé was a sailing vessel owned by the French East India Company. It was built by Joseph-Marie-Blaise Coulomb at the Lorient Dockyard around 1756. It had 62 cannons, a crew of 430, and a cargo capacity of 1400 tonnes. It is listed as a part of the Compte d'Aché's squadron in the Seven Years' War. Under the command of Jacques Lars de Lescouet, the Bien-Aimé travelled from Lorient to Brazil to the Mascarenes to India.
  
  While the ship was at Île de France, Joseph Tréguier was hired as a replacement. He is described as a cabin boy from Lorient who had previously been on the Dauphin, so there is no doubt this is the same Tréguier. The details, however, are slightly different. If you recall, the rôle of the Dauphin placed him on Île Bourbon until 31 January and boarded the Dauphin on 1 February, but according to the Bien Aimé's records, he was on nearby Île de France when he boarded the ship on the 31st. The Bien Aimé's version seems to be correct, since the ship left Île de France on 22 January and was at Île Bourbon from about 29 January to 4 February.
  
  On 4 February the ship left the Mascarene Islands for India. The Third Carnatic War was underway, and the ship was armed for battle. It docked at the French settlement of Karikal (about 130km south of Puducherry) on 27 April. Two days later it engaged in a battle with a British squadron near Cuddalore (23km south of Puducherry).
  
  The ship was badly damaged in the fray and within hours it had wandered 70km north to the Bay of Alemparé where it sank. The French had a fort at Alemparé, so presumably the crew, including Joséph Tréguier, made their way there.
  
  This was, apparently, the first naval battle that Joséph Tréguier had experienced. Altogether at least fifteen Bien Aimé crew members died in the battle or its immediate aftermath, including a cabin boy named François Pedron. The experience must have been jarring, and perhaps this helps explain why Tréguier didn't return to sea for nearly three years.