Jean-Baptiste-Henri Savigny (10 April 1793 – 27 January 1843) was a French surgeon, physician, and naturalist. He was one of three officers who survived the shipwreck of the French frigate Méduse in 1816, and he wrote a first-hand account of the ordeal. His account, published in 1817, was a major scandal at the time and helped to bring about reforms in the French navy.
Savigny was born in Rochefort, France, on 10 April 1793. He studied medicine at the University of Paris and graduated in 1814. In 1816, he was appointed surgeon and physician on the Méduse, a frigate that was sailing to Saint-Louis, Senegal.
On 2 July 1816, the Méduse ran aground on a sandbar off the coast of Africa. The ship was too damaged to be repaired, and the crew was forced to evacuate. The 152 survivors were placed on a raft, which was not large enough to accommodate them all.
Over the next 13 days, the survivors suffered from starvation, thirst, and exposure. 147 of them died, including the captain and the first officer. Savigny and two other officers, Alexandre Corréard and Henri Marie Lelièvre, were the only survivors.
Savigny and Corréard published their account of the ordeal, Naufrage de la frégate la Méduse, in 1817. The book was a major scandal at the time, and it led to a public outcry against the French navy. The navy was accused of incompetence and negligence, and reforms were eventually made to improve safety standards.
After the shipwreck, Savigny continued his medical career. He became a professor of anatomy at the University of Paris in 1822, and he was elected to the French Academy of Sciences in 1823. He died in Paris on 27 January 1843.
Savigny's account of the shipwreck of the Méduse is a classic of maritime literature. It is a harrowing story of survival and tragedy, and it is a powerful indictment of the human capacity for cruelty.
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