There were at least four ships that were built in Seychelles that ended in Australia. These were Lancier, built on Mahé in 1834; Arpenteur, built on Praslin in 1839; Marie Laure, built at Belombre in 1840; and Joséphine Loizeau, built in 1841 on Mahé.
This post is inspired by Denise Lambardo : The Tale of Joséphine Loizeau in the Regar 23-9-2005, and Julien Durup Three Sturdy Seychellois Built Ships That Ended In Australia.
The Joséphine Loizeau was a 94 ton, two-masted brig. A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square-rigged and typically having an additional lower fore-and-aft sail on the gaff and a boom to the main mast. She was named by her first owner, Adolphe Loizeau, a prominent Seychellois merchant and businessman, for his young bride, Joséphine, née Viau. Like other ships built in Seychelles at the time, the Joséphine Loizeau was built of the finest wood procured from the islands’ forests.
In the absence of a photo of Joséphine Loizeau I have chosen this one to illustrate how a Brig looks like
Dimensions
Joséphine Loizeau was 22 meters long, with a beam of 5.2 meters. Her depth was 2.9 meters, with a draft of .88 meters.
Previous owners:
Adolphe Loizeau (Seychellois) – 1841
Captain Latorel – C1852
William Younghusband – 1854
For several years the Joséphine Loizeau carried cargo and passengers between Seychelles, Mauritius and other ports of the western Indian Ocean. For example, on 8 July 1850, she is recorded as carrying 54 indentured immigrants from Nosey Be, Madagascar, to Mauritius. And in Oct 1850, she carried 6 passengers, also from Nosi Be, Madagascar, to Mauritius. She also sailed as far as Australia.
Joséphine Loizeau – brought the first Catholic missionary to the Seychelles Islands
It was while the ship was in Aden that her Mauritian captain, Arthur Labury, befriended a young French priest, Léon des Avanchers.
The Catholic faith was brought to Seychelles by the first French settlers but was only formally established with the arrival of Léon des Avanchers who was a Capuchin priest of the Province of Savoy, France. At the time there was no Catholic Church in Seychelles, despite numerous pleas from the colony’s Catholic population. Hearing of the plight of the Seychellois Catholics, Des Avanchers decided to sail with Labury to Mahé. However, he was forced to wait at Aden awaiting approval from his superiors whilst the Joséphine Loizeau sailed for the Somali coast.
Permission Granted
Upon receiving the permission he had been waiting for, Des Avanchers joined the Joséphine Loizeau at Berbera and on Christmas Day, 1850 baptised 10 of the ship’s crew.
I publish an extract in French » Extrait de son livre Les Îles Seychelles, esquisse historique, 1967.
“Le Père Louis de STURLA S.J., alors son supérieur, lui donna son consentement. Et une lettre de la Sacrée Congrégation de la Propagande avec l’obédience du Ministre Général des Capucins, le Père Venance, de Turin, parvenait à Aden. Le Père Léon rejoignit le bâtiment seychellois à Berbera. Pendant que s’opérait le chargement du navÎre, il instruisit l’équipage. Le jour de Noël, de grand matin, le bateau pavoisa et tira du canon pour solenniser la fête et le baptême « des prémices de la mission seychelloise ». Une fois en route vers les îles, le Père Léon donna chaque soir aux marins des leçons de catéchisme. Le 1er mars 1851, le brick Joséphine Loizeau touchait Mahé. La nouvelle qu’un missionnaire catholique avait débarqué se répandait à travers l’île et produisit une vive émotion. Tout le monde cherchait à voir ce religieux à longue barbe, vêtu d’une robe de bure, chaussé de sandales, un baton à la main.”
Before the ship left Aden, Des Avanchers baptised Labury’s Seychellois fiancée, Marie Elfrida Fondaumière, and then married the captain and his sweetheart.
For the 150th Anniversary of the arrival of Father Leon Des Avanchers, the Seychelles Post issued 1 stamp of 3 Sr. which shows an image of Father Léon Des Avanchers.
Father Léon Des Avanchers Lands in Seychelles
The Joséphine Loizeau reached Mahé on March 1, 1851, and she laid anchor at Cerf Island to unload a cargo of mules. Father Léon Des Avanchers, disembarked on the island for first time. The channel in which the mules swam ashore was later named “Passe Mules” and later erroneously referred to as “Passe Mullets”.
News of Des Avanchers’ arrival spread like wildfire. During his first few days at Mahé, he conducted hundreds of baptisms and marriages and consecrated a pavilion to a chapel dedicated to the Immaculate Conception.
Not everybody was enthusiastic about the priest’s arrival though. The head of the colony’s British administration, Robert Keate, refused Des Avanchers permission to stay and so, on March 21, he left the islands. He did, however, make a brief stopover a few weeks later when the Joséphine Loizeau, on its way from Mauritius, called in Seychelles on the pretext of needing repairs.
Although Des Avancher’s visit was a brief one, it set the wheels in motion for the establishment of the Catholic Church in Seychelles.
As for the Joséphine Loizeau, she continued her life as a trading vessel. In early 1852 she sailed under the command of a Captain Savy to East Africa and on July 6 anchored at Port-Louis with a cargo of 63 mules from Massawah, Ethiopia.
Joséphine Loizeau sailed to Australia
The following year, her then owner, a Captain Latorel, decided to try his luck in Australia. With seventeen passengers and a cargo of sugar, shoes and other goods, the Joséphine Loizeau left Port-Louis on November 14, 1853, bound for Port Adelaide.
Port Adelaide, South Australia, 1847, by William Anderson Cawthorne
She arrived there in January 1853 and was advertised for sale. At first a buyer could not be found and she sailed for Melbourne with 20 passengers and cargo. Sixteen months later she returned to Port Adelaide and was again put up for sale. This time a buyer was found and the new owner was William Younghusband.
William Younghusband.
The Joséphine Loizeau began making regular voyages between Port Adelaide and Encounter Bay.
In early 1856, she underwent a refit in Port Adelaide but, by May, had resumed sailing her usual route. In July she was once more on her way to Encounter Bay.
Joséphine Loizeau wrecked
On July 10, she was anchored in Horseshoe Bay at Port Elliot when a storm hit the bay. With some 120 tons of cargo valued at about £3000 and thirteen passengers, all women and children expecting to board the paddle steamer Albury at Goolwa and proceed up the Murray River, the little brig strained at her moorings. Just before 10pm, the strain became too great. The ship broke off her moorings and although all the crew and passengers safely made it to shore, the fine brig, the Joséphine Loizeau was lost. The vessel’s master, Captain Mennie, was hailed a hero for repeatedly swimming to and from the wrecked vessel to rescue the 13 women and children who were passengers aboard.
The next morning, wreckage from the vessel could be seen scattered all over the northern part of beach. The crew spent the next few days salvaging all that remained but most of the flour in the cargo was so badly damaged by water it was abandoned. As for the Joséphine Loizeau, one side of her had been caved in and she had rolled right over.
It was later discovered that a crew member had accidentally schackeld the ship to a buoy chain instead of a mooring cable.
Her final Resting Place
The Joséphine Loizeau’s final resting place is as follows:
Location: Horseshoe Bay, Port Elliott -35.533269°S 138.686519°E
Shipwrecks of Port Elliot:
1. Emu; 2. Commodore; 3. Josephine Loizeau; 4. Lapwing; 5. Harry; 6. Flying Fish; 7. Athol
Courtesy SA Department for Environment and Heritage
Site Environment
Depth of water (metres): 9.84
Height above seabed (metres): 3.28
Depth over shipwreck (metres): 6.56
Environmental conditions:
The remains can sometimes be seen exposed between the surf and swimming zones of Horseshoe Bay. The largest part closest to the beach consists of a windlass or capstan, some chain and a round timber about 25cm diameter and 2m long. About 5m further out are some heavy hull timbers, 25m out on some rocks are a few pieces of metal and some timber. The site is affected by Southerlies and sand, and is best viewed between February – April during the Northerlies.
Port Elliot Maritime Heritage Trail
In 2001, the Port Elliot Maritime Heritage Trail was launched, and signs were placed in strategic around the bay recounting the history of the port and several wrecks there, including the Joséphine Loizeau. Click on the links below to learn more:
Read more about specific details at wrecksite: https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?52505
Sources
Auguste Toussaint: La Route des Iles.
Auguste Toussaint: Shipbuilding in the Seychelles.
Captain William Smith: www.wyatt-family.com
Denise Lambardo Mrs.: The Tale of Joséphine Loiseau in the Regar 23-9-2005
Jean Claude Mahoune: Info on O Carmen piti Napoleon…
Shipwrecks of the Southern Coast.
Will Lawson: 1938, Harpoon Ahoy! Fighting the Great Sperm Whales
Australasian Underwater Cultural Heritage Database
https://localwiki.org/adelaide-hills/Ov … early_1853
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