Pod Insights Stuff You Missed in History Class Medusa Shipwreck (Part 1) About this episode The first episode of this two-parter covers the French mission to Senegal that the frigate Medusa led in 1816. Soon, the mission fell disastrously apart.
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1:51 Holly Frey? Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production of iHeart Radio.
2:01 Holly Frey? Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly Frey. And I'm Tracy V. Wilson. In our recent episode on Augustin Frenel, we mentioned that a tragic shipwreck led France and eventually the world to want to improve lighthouse technology. And I knew immediately as I was working on that episode that I wanted to talk about this shipwreck because it was the demise of the French frigate La Meduse, or in English, Medusa. This was actually covered in an episode by prior hosts Sarah and Dublina in 2011 in their episode Five Shipwreck Stories. We actually ran that as a Saturday classic on July 20, 2022. But there is so much about the Medusa that just cannot make it into a five-minute segment.
2:48 Holly Frey? So much. And this story is also very closely intertwined with art, which they do also touch on, although I think they maybe did not look into the creation of that art because they're like to end it on a happy note. And they talk about the art, but like, as you'll discover in part two, creating it was its own wild story. The Raft of Medusa by Theodore Jericho is a depiction of a life raft from this wreck adrift at sea right before it's rescued. And Jericho's obsession with the story of the Medusa and with creating a record of what happened on the raft is a story in and of itself. So this is a two-parter. And in this first episode, we're going to talk about the mission to Senegal that the
3:31 Holly Frey? Medusa led and how things fell disastrously and horrifyingly apart. And then in the second episode, we will talk about the aftermath of the shipwreck and we'll talk about Theodore Jericho's life, including his obsession with the disaster. So heads up, some of this is incredibly gnarly. There are some truly tragic events that played out and instances of starving people resorting to cannibalism and other very unsavory means to survive. Some of the accounts that we will read from survivors are Very, very graphic and harrowing. Um, but they're an important part of the record. So just know if that's something that you can't maybe handle.
4:16 Holly Frey? We have hundreds of episodes for you to enjoy. But I do think this is an important story about, uh, governance, about leadership. And about, uh, you know, how important it is to think carefully about missions that you develop and goals that you have and who should be in charge of them.
4:40 Tracy V. Wilson? When you're going to put a bunch of people on a vessel.
4:43 Holly Frey? Yeah.
4:44 Tracy V. Wilson? And that vessel will be unable to get assistance. It's very important to go above and beyond with safety.
4:52 Holly Frey? Yes.
4:53 Tracy V. Wilson? And not cut corners.
4:55 Holly Frey? Yes.
4:58 Tracy V. Wilson? It's a parable for today.
5:00 Holly Frey? It really, really is, as you'll hear.
5:03 Tracy V. Wilson? Yeah. Uh, in the months after Napoleon Bonaparte's first abdication in April of 1814, France, the UK, Russia, Prussia, Austria, Portugal, Sweden, and Spain entered into a peace agreement known as the Treaty of Paris. There are lots of treaties of Paris. Sometimes this one is specified as the first Treaty of Paris. This treaty built on previous accords and ended the fighting among these nations. But it also established new boundaries for France. It acknowledged the Bourbon monarchy in France, made rules about the slave trade in France, and it also portioned out colonies in foreign territories.
5:47 Tracy V. Wilson? France had an official presence in Senegal since the 17th century, but it had lost that to Britain until this treaty gave the French that colony back.
5:59 Tracy V. Wilson? Obviously, it goes without saying, but we will say it. This, of course, left the indigenous populations of these colonized places out of the conversation entirely. The French intended to reestablish their presence in Senegal, although Napoleon's brief return from exile in 1815 postponed that effort.
6:20 Holly Frey? Once Napoleon had abdicated for a second time, plans for this expedition continued. A frigate known as La Meduse, the Medusa, which was a proven naval vessel, was chosen to be the flagship of the mission. The other ships were a corvette called Echo, which was captained by Cornet de Venancourt, a brig called the Argus, under the command of Lieutenant Parnajon, and a supply ship called Loire, under the command of Lieutenant Guicardetouche.
6:49 Tracy V. Wilson? The captain of the Medusa was put in command because he was a loyal royalist. That was Viscount Hugh Douar de Chamere. He had fled to England during the revolution, barely escaping execution. And he published an autobiography that was very popular with royalist English readers. He had not captained a vessel in two decades, but as a show of gratitude for his support of the Bourbons, King Louis XVIII made him the captain of what was a high-profile mission to reestablish the Senegal colony. Chamere had campaigned for this post, and using his own autobiography as a source,
7:30 Tracy V. Wilson? he gave an overblown account of his qualifications for it. He was 53, and he had not been at sea for more than 20 years when he received this commission. The men who helmed the other three ships did not really care for him.
7:48 Holly Frey? No, everybody that was really experienced and skilled kind of smelled a lot of incompetence on him right out of the gate. And while there had been expeditions there to Senegal before, this was still considered a very treacherous voyage. The mapping of the African coast was not comprehensive. And there was a sandbank, known as the Arguin Bank, that contained reef formations that were particularly treacherous. There had been dozens of shipwrecks along the coast where they were heading in the decades preceding the mission's planned voyage.
8:24 Tracy V. Wilson? The people aboard the Medusa were a mix of soldiers, civilians, and officials. Those selected had been chosen to create a full community package that could basically land at the French colonial port of Saint Louis in Senegal and be ready to go right off the ship. There were storekeepers, clerks, scouts, schoolmasters, apothecaries, hospital directors, surgeons, a gardener, writers, bakers, engineers, a naturalist, an agriculturist, on and on, trying to cover all the bases. And the man who had been tapped as the new governor of Senegal, Julien Schmaltz, was on the frigate with his wife and daughter.
9:06 Tracy V. Wilson? In total, according to one crew account, there were 365 people on this mission with 240 of them on the Medusa. But official accounts of the people involved put the numbers higher, with the people aboard the Medusa at close to 400.
9:21 Holly Frey? On June 17, 1816, the expedition left port from Île-de, off the western coast of France. There were problems immediately. The first day, they actually had to hold before they even got very far because the wind was bad enough that the loire was struggling. So all of the ships cast anchor and waited. Then a storm came up. In the account written by survivors, they state, quote, "For some days, we made but very little progress." Additionally, a lot of the people that were setting out to populate the new colony had not spent time at sea. And so all of these ships were kind of full of people who were very seasick in the early part of the journey.
10:04 Tracy V. Wilson? Coming up, we'll talk about how badly things started to go for the Medusa. But first, we will pause for a sponsor break.
10:11 Holly Frey? A rare disease diagnosis can change your life, but it doesn't have to define your future. Tune in for season seven of Untold Stories: Life with a Severe Autoimmune Condition, a Ruby Studio production in partnership with Argenx. Hosted by public health and policy expert Dr. Martine Hackett, Untold Stories Life with a severe autoimmune condition pushes the conversation within the rare disease community forward. Featuring guests living with MG, CIDP, myositis, SMA, and other rare autoimmune conditions, each episode explores hope, progress, and connection. How does research create new opportunities?
10:54 Holly Frey? How do shared experiences help light the way forward? How do we best show up for each other? Tune in to find out. Listen on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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12:45 Speaker 06 She'd throw things, wander, and started hoarding. Mom's Alzheimer's was already so hard. But then we found out she had agitation that may happen with dementia due to Alzheimer's disease. And that was a different kind of difficult. So we asked her doctor for more help.
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13:47 Holly Frey? There was a tragic incident just a few days into the Medusa's journey. According to the main survivor account, quote, "A sailor lad 15 years of age fell into the sea through one of the four portholes on the larboard side. A great many persons were at the time on the poop and the breastwork, looking at the gambles of the porpoises. The exclamations of pleasure at beholding the sports of these animals were succeeded by cries of pity. For some moments, the unfortunate youth held by the end of a rope, which he caught hold of in his fall, but the rapidity with which the frigate sailed soon forced him to let go." So the Medusa intended to signal the echo about this man overboard.
14:30 Holly Frey? The echo was inside of the ship, but there was no loaded gun on the ship. I have read some interpretations of loaded gun being like a pistol and others being like a cannon. I don't know which is accurate. A lifebuoy was thrown out to the buoy and the ship was slowed as much as possible. And at one point, one of the onboard sailors actually got a hold of this buoy by the arm. Some accounts say by the back of his shirt, but it doesn't matter because he lost that hold when that sailor that was on board was nearly pulled into the water. A small boat with three men in it was set into the water, but they could not spot the boy and the life buoy that they had thrown out for him had also not been spotted. At that point, this 15 year old was presumed dead and the frigate continued on its course.
15:16 Tracy V. Wilson? The entire mission was struggling by the time this happened. Though the Echo could almost keep pace with the Medusa, the other two ships really could not. And Chamere did not seem to have a plan to mitigate this problem. He was focused on the edict that the group had to reach Saint Louis, which was the previously established French capital of Senegal as quickly as possible. As a consequence, he let the Medusa outpace the other ships and left them with no navigation headings to follow. All of this, plus the boy lost at sea, who a lot of people thought could have been saved, led to people to just increasingly not trust him. They already didn't like him. It was getting worse.
16:01 Holly Frey? Well, the other experienced sailors did not like him right out of the gate, but at this point, the people that were civilians were like, I don't know that this guy is maybe the best at his job. I say that laughingly, but it's really going to hurt people. Aboard the Echo, Gikkel de Tuge noticed that even when the Medusa did signal its intended course, the ship often did something different than what had been communicated. So de Tuge just started using observation instead of believing any of the signals Chamere was sending. This was made worse when Chamere appointed someone totally unqualified to advise him in navigation. That was a man named Antoine Richfort.
16:45 Holly Frey? Chamere and Richfort met on the ship. As a member of the philanthropic society, Richfort had managed to get a seat at the captain's table for meals. And Richfort, who had some naval experience, claimed to the captain that he was an expert regarding the coast of Africa. And Chamere, who had a lot of ill will toward him on the ship at this point and knew it, found a friend in Richfort, so he started listening to his assessments of their situation and acting on them. With no vetting of the man's actual qualifications, and this is likely what eventually put the Medusa 60 nautical miles away from where they actually thought they were.
17:26 Tracy V. Wilson? The depth of the misguided trust the captain gave and the blame that many believe he deserved for what happened is described in an account from one of the passengers, Charlotte Picard, this way. Quote, "A certain passenger, member of the self-instituted philanthropic society of Cape Verde, suggested that it was very dangerous to remain where we were, adding that he was well acquainted with the country and had navigated in all these latitudes. Monsieur Llewes Chamere, captain of the Medusa, believing the pretended knowledge of the intriguing Richfore, gave him the command of the frigate. Various officers of the navy represented to the captain
18:07 Tracy V. Wilson? how shameful it was to put such confidence in a stranger and that they would never obey a man who had no character as a commander. The captain despised these wise remonstrances and using his authority commanded the pilots and all the crew to obey Richfore, saying he was king. Since the orders of the king were, they should obey him. Immediately the impostor, desirous of displaying his great skill in navigation, made them change the route for no purpose but that of showing his skill in maneuvering a ship. Every instant he changed the tack, went, came and returned and approached the very reefs as if to brave them.
18:50 Tracy V. Wilson? In short, he beat about so much that the sailors at length refused to obey him, saying boldly that he was a vile impostor. But it was done. The man had gained the confidence of Captain Chamere, who, ignorant of navigation himself, was doubtless glad to get someone to undertake his duty. But it must be told and told to, in the face of all of Europe, that this blind and inept confidence was the sole cause of the loss of the Medusa frigate, as well as all of the crimes consequent upon it."
19:25 Holly Frey? So the survivor's account from people aboard the Medusa described the ship's proximity to the reef at Argua this way, quote, "During a part of the night, the echo with which we had constantly kept company since we left Madeira burnt several charges of powder and hung a lantern at the mizzenmast. Her signals were not answered in the same manner. Only a lantern was hung for a few moments to the foremast. It went out soon after and was not replaced by another light. Monsieur Savigny was on deck where he remained a part of the night. He had full opportunity to perceive the negligence of the officer of the watch, who did not even deign to answer the signals made by the echo. Why, in the neighborhood
20:08 Holly Frey? of so formidable a danger, not compare the points of the two ships, as is usual when vessels sail in company? The captain of the frigate was not even informed of the signals of the corvette. At 11 o'clock, she bore off the larboard bow, and soon after, he perceived that the direction of her course made a pretty large angle with ours, and that it tended to cross us passing ahead. He soon perceived her on the starboard. It is affirmed that her journal states that she sailed the whole night west-southwest. Ours does the same. We must necessarily have hauled to the larboard, or she to the starboard, since at daybreak, the corvette was no longer in sight."
20:48 Tracy V. Wilson? According to the survivor's account, it wasn't as though the Medusa was just chugging along and slammed into the reef, not knowing it was there. An ensign of the watch, named La Perre, had determined in the night that the ship was in shallow waters near the reef. Another watchman, an experienced sailor named Monsieur Maudet, confirmed La Perre's assessment, and communicated up the chain of command that the ship was, quote, "on the edge of the reef." But his concerns were dismissed by the captain, who, deciding these assessments were false based on nothing but vibes and the words of Richfort, stated that the ship was in 80 fathoms. That's 480 feet of water.
21:31 Tracy V. Wilson? In the writing of geographical engineer Alexandre Coriar and Henri Savigny, one of the surgeons of the group, they explicitly state, quote, "We have mentioned the names of Messieurs La Prairie and Maudet because if they had been attended to, the Medusa would still be in existence."
21:48 Holly Frey? Yeah, normally, at a point when your people inform you, you are very close to a reef, you would take a depth sound.
21:58 Tracy V. Wilson? Right.
21:59 Holly Frey? And the captain didn't want to. He just completely wanted to pretend that reality was not, and what he said would magically be true. At midday on July 2, 1816, the Medusa ran up onto the reef at Argua and stopped moving. After the initial panic, in the power vacuum left by the obvious ineptitude of Chamaray, different sailors came up with different plans for what to do next. There was a flurry of things that did have to happen. Soundings were taken of the surrounding water, since some areas that were quite close to the reef were actually fairly deep and might offer a spot that the ship could move into safely.
22:42 Holly Frey? The keg anchor, which is an anchor designed to pull the ship back into water in just such a circumstance, was deployed, but it failed. The ship's weight was rebalanced to prevent tipping. Governor Schmals stepped into the leadership position, as no one trusted Richel or Chamaray, and the crew tried for two full days to get the Medusa floating again. And there were even some moments where it seemed like their efforts were working. But then, the need to evacuate the ship was discussed with the crew.
23:13 Tracy V. Wilson? Schmals realized there were not enough lifeboats for everyone, and designed a raft to take the people who couldn't fit in the boats. This raft required the boom, the masts, and the yards from the ship for its construction, as well as various planks. With the pieces salvaged from the Medusa, the raft had a prow, stability planking, and a platform. It was 65 feet by 22 feet, and the intent was that it would be towed by the lifeboats. And then, once the entire party reached the shore, they would continue on foot to the French capital in Senegal.
23:53 Holly Frey? Up to this point, the Medusa was stuck, but she was intact. But then, on the night of July 4th, wind and sharp waves caused the frigate to crack, and they thought it was going to collapse. There were concerns that people would be crushed by falling masts if they stayed on the boat, and the order was given to evacuate in the early hours of the morning. An organizational list had already been drafted that assigned people to the boats and the raft. Unsurprisingly, the highest-ranking people were put in the safest spots, while lowest-ranking people were put on the raft. Incidentally, Charlotte Picard's family was initially put on the raft, and they were
24:34 Holly Frey? kind of, you know, high-ranking in general, and they made a fuss and ended up on the longboat. But anyone who had had conflict with Captain Chalamet was also relegated to the raft. One officer reportedly stayed behind by threatening to shoot anyone who tried to force him onto the raft, and stating that he would rather choose how he died. Several other members of the crew stayed behind as well, some just feeling that it was their duty to stay with the ship, and others not really being willing to risk the lifeboats or the raft.
25:08 Tracy V. Wilson? It was clear at every step that the raft, which was perilously overloaded, was going to be in trouble. The officer who promised to take charge of the raft instead got into one of the lifeboats. Chalamet did not go down with the ship, as would normally be tradition for the man in charge. He jumped into one of the lifeboats and left members of his crew behind.
25:32 Holly Frey? We'll talk about the perilous and awful journey of the evacuees, but before we get into that admittedly awful material, we are going to hear from the sponsors that keep Stuff You Missed in History Class going.
25:47 Holly Frey? A rare disease diagnosis can change your life, but it doesn't have to define your future. Tune in for season seven of Untold Stories: Life with a Severe Autoimmune Condition, a Ruby Studio production in partnership with Argenx. Hosted by public health and policy expert Dr. Martine Hackett, Untold Stories: Life with a Severe Autoimmune Condition pushes the conversation within the rare disease community forward. Featuring guests living with MG, CIDP, myositis, SMA, and other rare autoimmune conditions, each episode explores hope, progress, and connection. How does research create new opportunities? How do shared experiences help light the way forward? How do we best show up for each other?
26:32 Holly Frey? Tune in to find out. Listen on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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28:16 Speaker 06 She'd throw things, wander, and started hoarding. Mom's Alzheimer's was already so hard. But then we found out she had agitation that may happen with dementia due to Alzheimer's disease. And that was a different kind of difficult. So we asked her doctor for more help.
28:32 Speaker 07 Seeing symptoms like these in a loved one? It could be time to ask their doctor about Rexulti, Rexiprazole 2mg, the first FDA-approved treatment for this condition. Rexulti is proven to reduce agitation symptoms. Rexulti should not be used as an as-needed treatment. Elderly people with dementia-related psychosis have increased risk of death or stroke. Report fever, stiff muscles, and confusion, which can be life-threatening, or uncontrolled muscle movements, which may be permanent. High blood sugar can lead to coma or death. Weight gain, increased cholesterol, unusual urges, dizziness on standing, falls, seizures, trouble swallowing, or sleepiness may occur. Learn more about these and other side effects at rexulti.com. Tap ad for PI.
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29:19 Holly Frey? Once this little towing flotilla set out, it became immediately apparent that pulling the raft was causing a lot of challenges. Steering became close to impossible, and everyone was slowed down. And then, because the raft was also built the way it was, it was causing them to actually be pulled away from the shore rather than to it. And the longboat that was part of the flotilla actually went back to get more people from the Medusa and also tried to redistribute some of the people among the lifeboats so that none of them was unequally overburdened. That longboat was refused. Everyone was like, "You pick those people up, they're yours."
29:58 Tracy V. Wilson? Then, an even more harrowing act. The order was issued to abandon the raft. According to Charlotte Picard's account, "Monsieur Le Pereir instantly let go the rope, which attached us to the other boats, and tugged off with all his force." "At the same instant, every boat imitated our excitable example and wishing to shun the approach of the shallow, which sought for assistance, stood off from the raft, abandoning in the midst of the ocean and to the fury of the waves the miserable mortals whom they had sworn to land on the shores of the desert." Scarcely had those cowards broken their oath when we saw the French flag flying upon the raft.
30:42 Tracy V. Wilson? The governors and the captains boats had cut the ropes that tethered them to this raft.
30:47 Holly Frey? Though the boats had their own problems in fighting and suspicion, they did eventually make it to shore on the coast of Mauritania and they began the trek south to Senegal. The initial group from the longboat, that was the boat that went back to get extra people that made land numbered eighty-six and that number began to dwindle immediately. One of the longboat survivors was so badly injured that he could not travel on land and they left him on the beach. Charlotte Picard described the relief of the initial landing then being supplanted by fear this way, quote, "Doubtless the joy we experienced at having escaped as by a miracle, the fury of the floods was very great, but how much was it lessened by the
31:31 Holly Frey? feelings of our horrible situation? Without water, without provisions, and the majority of us nearly naked, was it to be wondered at that we should be seized with terror on thinking of the obstacles which we had to surmount? The fatigues, the privations, the pains and the sufferings we had to endure, with the dangers we had to encounter on the immense and frightful desert we had to traverse before we could arrive at our destination."
31:56 Tracy V. Wilson? The longboat survivors had drunk their tiny portion of water and had some seawater-soaked biscuits while still at sea and embarked with nothing. They dug into the ground wherever they found plants to try to get to whatever water they could and apparently that water was rank. They started to become delirious. The French group had been very frightened of the Mauritans based on a lot of racist and xenophobic misinformation that was common in Europe. They ended up trading with some of them to get some much-needed supplies and having others offer help as guides. When a small band did launch an attack on the Medusa survivors, it was stopped when
32:39 Tracy V. Wilson? one of the men recognized Charlotte Picard's father. Picard had hired the man on a previous visit to Senegal. After five days of walking along the shore, they were intercepted by boats sent by the English governor of Senegal and then brought to Saint Louis.
32:56 Holly Frey? Other lifeboat survivors in a small sailboat faced similarly grueling challenges, although they had started with a group half the size of that in the longboat. But this smaller group, led by Lieutenant Espio, were captured by a group of Mauretanians. They were eventually rescued as well by a contingent from the English settlement.
33:18 Tracy V. Wilson? As for the boats carrying Governor Smolts and Captain Chamaray, they stayed together after cutting the raft loose. They were quickly picked up by the Echo and they had a relatively easy ride to Saint Louis.
33:32 Holly Frey? The people on the raft had a much different experience. They had very little to keep them going. Food supplies were lean, they had wine, but they didn't have much fresh water, and they couldn't steer or navigate at all. Because of the crowded conditions, some people clung to the raft on the sides with their lower halves in the water. There were initially 147 people on this raft, all men except for one woman. Savigny and Coriade were near the center, which is one of the reasons they survived, to write a detailed account. Over the course of 13 days, the situation on the raft devolved into a scenario that really can only be described as hellish.
34:15 Tracy V. Wilson? Savigny took on a leadership role to some degree, along with other experienced sailors of the Medusa's crew, instructing on the construction of a sail and mast for the raft. They hung their signal gun at the top to keep its powder from getting wet. He soaked the small number of biscuits they had in wine to distribute among the dozens of people. As a surgeon, he knew that water was going to be a bigger issue.
34:43 Holly Frey? Additionally, people started dying almost immediately. The raft had been constructed by lashing pieces of the ship together, but these weren't things that were meant to be fitted together and there were gaps. And in the thrashing waves, people got their legs and arms and other body parts injured. When they got caught between those things at the gaps, they would fall into the cracks between those lashed pieces. And a lot of people died from these injuries. Some of them were just flat out crushed to death. After a day, some men actually chose to die by suicide by simply jumping into the sea, then try to wait out any kind of horrible end they thought might come. As people went mad, which they did,
35:25 Holly Frey? some of them tried to sabotage the boat and take it apart to end the whole ordeal. Others attacked the various officers on board. Dangerous delirium was handled brutally. People who were behaving dangerously were killed and thrown overboard.
35:42 Tracy V. Wilson? A mutiny began as fear drove people into the most brutal form of survival mode. The one woman on board who was with her husband was thrown over with him, but was pulled back on by Choriar and the other sailors. Choriar described the scene, quote, "They attacked us. We charged them in our turn and soon the raft was covered with their dead bodies. Those among our adversaries who had no arms attempted to tear us with their teeth. Several of us were cruelly bitten. Monsieur Sevigny was himself bitten in the legs and the shoulder. He received also a wound with a knife in his right arm,
36:23 Tracy V. Wilson? which deprived him for a long time of the use of the fourth and little fingers of that hand. Many others were wounded. Our clothes were pierced in many places by knives and sabers. One of our workmen was also seized by four of the mutineers, who were going to throw him into the sea. One of them had seized him by the right leg and was biting him cruelly in the sinew above the heel. The others were beating him severely with their sabers and the butt end of their carbines. His cries made us fly to his aid."
36:58 Holly Frey? The mutiny was intense and wine and water supplies were lost in the fray. The Savany and Coriard account states that 60 to 65 men were lost in the course of this conflict, almost all of them from the delirious mutineers. The day after the riot of the mutiny ended, when things had calmed down and the remaining raft members tried fishing by fashioning hooks out of the metal items that they had on board, but they were not successful in this effort. And then they turned to cannibalism. Savany and Coriard begged their readers to understand the circumstances, writing, quote, "But an extreme resource was necessary to preserve our wretched existence.
37:42 Holly Frey? We tremble with horror at being obliged to mention that which we made use of. We feel our pen drop from our hand. A death-like chill pervades all our limbs. Our hair stands erect on our heads. Reader, we beseech you, do not feel indignation towards men who are already too unfortunate, but have compassion on them and shed some tears of pity on their unhappy fate."
38:07 Tracy V. Wilson? They go on to describe the way things played out, and this is graphic and difficult, but it also offers insight into just how awful this experience was and how much these people struggled. If you're squeamish, though, you might want to just jump ahead, maybe 90 seconds to two minutes. This is, quote, again, quote, "Those whom death had spared in the disastrous night which we have just described fell upon the dead bodies with which the raft was covered and cut off pieces which some instantly devoured. Many did not touch them. Almost all the officers were of this number. Seeing that this horrid nourishment had given strength to those who had made use of it,
38:51 Tracy V. Wilson? it was proposed to dry it in order to render it a little less disgusting. Those who had firmness enough to abstain from it took a larger quantity of wine. We tried to eat sword belts and cartouche boxes. We succeeded in swallowing some little morsels. Some eat linen, others pieces of leather from the hats on which there was a little grease or rather dirt. We were obliged to give up these last means. A sailor attempted to eat excrements, but he could not succeed."
39:24 Holly Frey? And their group continued to dwindle. Each morning, more people were missing from the raft, or they were found dead on it. When they were down to 27 people, the men who had been more or less in charge had a meeting to discuss what meager rations of wine were left. It was the only thing there was to drink. And they had calculated that they had four days' worth of supplies left, but that if they threw people who were clearly dying overboard, those reserves would last almost a week longer. The husband and wife were among the victims of this grim decision, as were another 10 men, leaving just 15 men aboard. They also threw their weapons into the sea,
40:06 Holly Frey? knowing that it was entirely likely some or all of them may again experience delirium and threaten or murder each other. They also started drinking urine to try to stay alive. And around this time, sharks began to circle the raft and never left.
40:24 Tracy V. Wilson? On the 13th day, an infantry captain on the raft spotted a ship. They straightened some of the hoops from the casks they had on board and tied handkerchiefs to them to make flags. They lifted one of the men to the mast, and he waved the flags from there, hoping to get their attention. For a while, they grew despondent when they lost sight of this ship, but it reappeared closer to them than before, and they all started waving any piece of cloth they could get their hands on.
40:54 Holly Frey? The survivor account of Coriar and Seven Yi notes, "The manner in which we were saved is truly miraculous. The finger of heaven is conspicuous in this event." And it really was just a random stroke of luck that put them in view of their rescuers. The brig Argus, which had been part of the four-ship group that started this mission, had been sent out to help the survivors of the lifeboats and to look for the raft. And the lifeboat survivors were taken care of, but the captain of the Argus believed that the raft just must have been lost. And after a brief search, he turned back to port at Senegal. The ship had to shift its course due to a wind surge,
41:35 Holly Frey? and it was only because of that change in heading that the raft was spotted. When the remaining survivors of the raft were brought aboard the Argus, they were told that they had been assumed dead for a week. The written account continues, "We were received in the most brilliant manner. The governor, several officers, both English and French, came to meet us. And one of the officers in this numerous train held out to us a hand, which a fortnight before had, as it were, plunged us in the depth of despair by loosening the tow rope, which made our raft fast to the boat. But such is the effect produced by the sight of wretches who have just been miraculously delivered, that there was not a single person, either English or French, who did not shed
42:18 Holly Frey? tears of compassion on seeing the deplorable condition to which we were reduced."
42:23 Tracy V. Wilson? The survivors of the Medusa raft were nursed carefully, with a surgeon monitoring their nutrition and slowly introducing solid food back into their diets. Just the same, five of the surviving 15 died in the days and weeks that followed their rescue.
42:41 Holly Frey? The aftermath of the Medusa's horrible end and the painting that was created to commemorate the experiences on the raft are what we're going to talk about in part two.
42:51 Tracy V. Wilson? Do you have some listener mail?
42:53 Holly Frey? I do. This is such a grisly episode in some ways that I wanted to end it on a funny one. And I'm going to pre-thank our listener David for providing a great email, who writes, "Good day, Holly and Tracy. I'm a longtime listener and a big fan of your podcast, but have never felt compelled to write before today. While listening to your latest episode about Jane Cunningham Crowley, you mentioned that she formed a women's club called the cirrhosis club. I burst out laughing at my own ignorance. While I lived in Wilmington, North Carolina, there was an antique show held every year in February, put on by the Cape Fear Cirrhosis Club. I always found it odd that a club about liver disease would hold an antique show.
43:37 Holly Frey? I never looked it up, and your podcast taught me a great lesson in making an assumption even eight years after the fact. Be well, and thank you for the education." P.S. My pet text is my 12-year-old rescue bulldog Anastasia Beaverhausen. She was somebody's broodmare and dumped once they were done with her around five years old. She now lives the easy life with a sofa and unending supply of snacks. Anastasia is so cute. Her expression is next level, and I'm so glad she's a spoiled baby. But I love this in it. I meant to actually mention it in the episode and forgot because I was trying every time we said sorosis to really accentuate that O so that no one thought it was cirrhosis. Right, same.
44:23 Holly Frey? But I'm glad that we helped somebody else clear up a confusion. Thank you so much, David. That was a delight and much needed after our discussion of people suffering for two weeks on end. If you would like to write to us, whether it's over confusion over pronunciation that makes for hilarity, or anything else, you can do that at [email protected] . You can subscribe to the show on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
44:55 Tracy V. Wilson? Stuff You Missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
45:09 Holly Frey? A rare disease diagnosis can change your life, but it doesn't have to define your future. In season seven of Untold Stories: Life with a Severe Autoimmune Condition, host Martine Hackett continues the conversation with people living with MG, CIDP, and the broader rare disease community, exploring what comes after diagnosis through stories of hope, progress, and connection. Produced by Ruby Studio in partnership with Argenx. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Previous SYMHC Classics: Chesapeake Bay Oyster Wars Next Géricault and the Raft of the Medusa (Part 2) Page updated November 1, 2026 · transcript and summary are machine-generated