18th C Indian Ocean Voyages

The Voyage of the Hirondelle (1753)

The Hirondelle was a small French frigate owned by the French East India Company. It was built at Lorient in 1750-1751. It had 8 cannons, a crew of 39, and a cargo capacity of 150 tonnes. Under the command of Captain René le Gouardun, the Hirondelle travelled from Lorient to West Africa and back between March and September 1753.

Joséph Tréguier, son of Jean, is listed as a cabin boy who worked the duration of this voyage. It is quite possible this is our Joséph Tréguier, having reported his father's name as Jean rather than the name they shared. He is described as a 11-year-old cabin boy from Lorient, and he earned a monthly wage of 6 livres.

The Hirondelle left Lorient on 4 February 1753 bound for Senegal. By 18 March, it was at Senegal. The rôle does not specify at which port the ship landed, but it was presumably one of the four major French trading post along the coast of Sénégal: Saint-Louis, Gorée, Dakar and Rufisque. While here, the ship let off a small contingent of French soldiers. After an unknown duration at Senegal, the ship moved up the coast to Portendick in what is now Mauritania, where it is recorded from 3 to 8 May 1753. It picked up another small group of soldiers and, by July, it was back in Senegal. Apparently, it served as a coastal vessel for troop transport for part of its voyage.

The Hirondelle returned to Lorient by 23 September 1753. Six months later, Joséph Tréguier was hired onto the Prince de Conti.

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