author

Pierre-Raymond de Brisson

b. 1745

Best known for a dramatic firsthand account of shipwreck, captivity, and survival in North and West Africa, this 18th-century French traveler wrote from lived experience rather than literary ambition. His story helped bring the realities of desert travel, enslavement, and the Atlantic world to European readers.

1 Audiobook

Perils and Captivity Comprising The sufferings of the Picard family after the shipwreck of the Medusa, in the year 1816; Narrative of the captivity of M. de Brisson, in the year 1785; Voyage of Madame Godin along the river of the Amazons, in the year 1770.

Perils and Captivity Comprising The sufferings of the Picard family after the shipwreck of the Medusa, in the year 1816; Narrative of the captivity of M. de Brisson, in the year 1785; Voyage of Madame Godin along the river of the Amazons, in the year 1770.

by Charlotte-Adelaïde Dard, Pierre-Raymond de Brisson, Jean Godin des Odonais

About the author

Born in Moissac on January 22, 1745, Pierre-Raymond de Brisson was a French explorer and travel writer. French reference sources identify him as having died in 1820, and his name is closely linked with narratives of travel and captivity on the African coast.

He is best remembered for works based on his own experiences after shipwreck and captivity, including accounts later translated into English as An Account of the Shipwreck and Captivity of Mr. de Brisson and, with Saugnier, Voyages to the Coast of Africa. These books mix adventure, observation, and harsh detail about life in the desert and the slave trade.

What makes his writing stand out is its directness. Even in later editions and translations, the appeal is the sense that the reader is hearing from someone who endured the events himself, making his work part travel narrative, part survival story, and part historical witness.