An Early Seychellois in Micronesia
By Julien Durup, a student of history
Who was he? He was in fact Louis Marie Constant Corgat, born on 2nd January 1813 at Mahé, son of Louis Esprit Corgat and Marie Henriette Payet. Louis Esprit Corgat was born in Morbihan, Lorient, France, and arrived in the Seychelles in 1802 and married in 1812. Louis Esprit and Marie Henriette also had the following nine children: Angelina Henriette born 25th January 1815, Constance François Ténaide born 1st Febraury 1817, Augustine Henriette Reine born 15th January 1819, Reine Eliza born 8th February 1821, Marie Marie Anne Georgette born 9th July 1823, Auguste Gabriel born 5th November 1825, Theodore Benjamin born 24th February 1829, Laure Eugenie Aimee born 27th January 1830, and Marie Elodie born 1st February 1834. Louis Esprit Corgat died at 63 years of age on 12th September 1854 at Mahé.
Louis Marie Constant Corgat was known as Louis Corgat and was one of the earliest Seychellois who went on the whaling adventures. He sailed as first mate on the schooner Avon under, Captain Jules Dudoit. Dudoit was born on 20 January 1803, at Port Louis, Ile de France, (Mauritius).
After plying regularly between Mauritius, La Réunion, and Calcutta, they arrived in Sydney, Australia, on the Avon and from there they set sail to go whaling in the Hawaiian Islands. They left Sydney on the bark Clementine andhad their base on Oahu (meaning the Gathering Place) Island, the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands. From there they sailed the Pacific Ocean, arriving at the Micronesian island of Pohnpei (meaning “upon a stone alter”), the most welcomed and wettest place on earth.
In 1836, after a disagreement with the greedy Dudoit, a man of brutal character, Louis Corgat decided to leave the Clementine and settled on Pohnpei, one of the most beautiful of Micronesia’s 2,106 islands.
In 1526 the Portuguese Diego Rocha named the islands the New Philipines. In 1686 it was renamed Islas las Carolinas (Caroline Islands) after Queen Carolina. Pope Leo XIII gave the islands to Germany and the League of Nations sold it to Japan. Then the Americans captured it during the Second World War.
As for Dudoit, he continued his journey and settled in Honolulu. He was appointed the first French Consul by Captain Abel Aubert Dupetit-Thouars. He died there in 1866. He was a mason and the oldest lodge (Lodge le Progres de l’Oceanie) in Hawaii was founded on 8 April 1843 in Dudroit’s store.
Louis Corgat soon met with about 25 British and American deserting sailors who had already settled o the Island and learned how to speak English from them. He served as chief pilot at the harbours of Rohnkiti and Lohd and became the best pilot on the island. He was also a dealer in béche-de-mer, pearl shell and tortoiseshell.
Louis Corgat married a local girl and sadly we only know that his sister in law’s name was “Likobika” and his son Cayol. He was the only French speaker on the island and became the interpreter to French Captain Joseph de Rosamel and for many others like French scientists and British and American sea captains who visited the island. He also led an expedition to the nearby Ngatik (Sapwauahfik) atoll after the massacre lead by the British Captain C. H. Hart.
Louis Gorgat died in 1853. His son, Cayol, later joint the missionary brigantine the Morning Star which the native Hawaiians described as Nani loa! Nani loa! He moku maikai! (Beautiful! Beautiful! A lovely vessel).
The first Morning Star was built from children pocket money; she left Boston in 1819 with the first 14 missionaries for Hawaii. She arrived in Honolulu six months later and there they established the “Hawaiian Missionary Society” with the help of the European deserters who had already been established on the Island. Louis Corgat was much involved in looking after the group of 10 missionaries which arrived in Micronesia in 1850 on the Caroline. They were 6 Americans and 4 Hawaiians. The America Protestant Missionaries credited their survival to the assistance given by Louis Corgat.
In 1840, during the visit to Pohnpei of theFrenchcorvettethe Danaïde, which was under Captain Joseph de Rosamel, Louis Corgat was employed as pilot. The Danaïde arrived on the 5th of September and Louis Corgat took command of her during her 10 days hydrographical survey expedition all around Pohnpei. In the course of the expedition Louis Corgat gave de Rosamel all the information about the maritime traffic to Pohnpei, commercial produce of the island, and about the introduction of animals and plants. He also detailed information about the white deserters. All the words that de Rosamel wrote in the local languages (Pohnpeian) came from Louis Corgat, including the local words and phrases that de Rosamel wrote at the end of his notes. The oral traditions tales about the early Chinese and European arrivals came from Louis Corgat. The first Europeans who tried to Christianise the indigenous people could have been on one of the ships of the flotilla of Alvaro de Madana de Naira, led by Pedro Fernandez de Quiros. De Quiros was a Portuguese in the service of the Spanish. They were received as a god and then a fight broke out. Spanish relics had been found it that area were they disembarked with their cross.
Louis Corgat also told de Rosamel about the “Massacre of Ngatik” in 1837, lead by the British Captain C. H. Hart, in which all the adult male population were killed for not selling Hart twenty five pounds of hawksbill tortoiseshell. Two days before the Danaïde left, Louis Corgat took de Rosamel on a tour to visit all the chiefs of the five main tribes on the island. One of them accepted the invitation to visit the Danaïde and stayed two days on board.
De Rosamel wrote the following on Corgat: “Louis Corgat, settled on the island since seven years, he is a Créole from the Seychelles. He seemed to have no desire of going back. He was a man of good conduct and had given me contentment. I considered myself very happy to have meet Corgat.”
Ref.
- Pohnpei, Micronésie en 1840: Voyage de circumnavigation de la Danaïde, par Joseph de Rosamel.
- Francis X. Hezel, S J: Beachcombers, Traders and Castaways in Micronesia: The Role of the Beachcombers in the Caroline Islands.
- Genealogy of Dudoit: Facebook.
- Jennifer Fish Kashay: 2002: Native, Foreignwer, Missionary, Priest: Western Imperialism and Religious Conflict in 19th Century Hawaii.
- Prince Lot Kapuiawa Kamehameha: The first full blooded Hawaiian Freemason. Bt Herbert G. Gardiner PCS Grand Historian, G L of Hawaii.
- Pool and Johnstone: Civil Status Records from the Seychelles National Archives
- Louis Corgat Pohnpei (1835-1853)
Louis Corgat was a Frenchman from Seychelles Island. He came to Pohnpei in 1835 or 1836 as second mate of "Avon" under Captain Deudoit. He lived on Pohnpei many years, serving as a harbor pilot at Rohn Kiti, and was mentioned by Commander Blake of HMS "Larne." Corgat, who seems to have been rather honest person, helped the first Protestant missionaries at their arrival in 1852. Corgat died in 1853.
A Cayol Crogat, perhaps the son of Louis, went with "Morning Star" to Hawaii.
Sources: Shineberg 1971: 204-205; Ward 1967: vol 6, 165, 169 (http://www.micsem.org/pubs/articles/historical/bcomber/pohnpei.htm)