author
Alexandre Corréard
1788–1857
Best remembered as one of the survivors of the wreck of the Méduse, he turned a terrible ordeal into a lasting historical record. An engineer, geographer, and writer, he also helped shape the story behind one of the 19th century's most famous paintings.
1 Audiobook
Narrative of a Voyage to Senegal in 1816 Undertaken by Order of the French Government, Comprising an Account of the Shipwreck of the Medusa, the Sufferings of the Crew, and the Various Occurrences on Board the Raft, in the Desert of Zaara, at St. Louis, and at the Camp of Daccard. to Which Are Subjoined Observations Respecting the Agriculture of the Western Coast of Africa, from Cape Blanco to the Mouth of the Gambia.
by Jean Baptiste Henri Savigny, Alexandre Corréard
About the author
Born in 1788, Alexandre Corréard was a French engineer and geographer who studied at Arts et Métiers ParisTech. He is most closely linked with the 1816 wreck of the frigate Méduse, which ran aground off the coast of present-day Mauritania while he was aboard as an engineer-geographer.
Corréard survived the disaster as one of the few people left alive from the raft built after the wreck. After returning to France, he became widely known for publishing an account of the catastrophe with fellow survivor Henri Savigny, a narrative that helped turn the event into a major public scandal.
His story reached even further through art: Corréard is associated with Théodore Géricault's The Raft of the Medusa, and sources note that he worked with the painter while the picture was being developed. He died in 1857, remembered not only for surviving an infamous shipwreck, but for helping preserve its human reality in print and image.