Alexandre Corréard (1788-1857) was a French engineer and geographer. He is best known for his role in the shipwreck of the French frigate Méduse in 1816 and for his subsequent account of the ordeal.
Corréard was born in Paris, France, on October 8, 1788. He studied engineering at the École Polytechnique and graduated in 1807. In 1811, he was appointed to the French navy and served as an engineer on a number of ships.
In 1816, Corréard was assigned to the Méduse, a frigate that was sailing to Saint-Louis, Senegal. On July 2, 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. Corréard and two other officers, Jean-Baptiste-Henri Savigny and Henri Marie Lelièvre, were the only survivors.
Corréard and Savigny 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.
Corréard continued his career as an engineer after the shipwreck. He worked on a number of public works projects, including the construction of roads and bridges. He also served as a professor of engineering at the École Polytechnique. He died in Paris on February 16, 1857.
Corréard'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.
Corréard's legacy is complex. He was a skilled engineer and a courageous survivor, but he was also a controversial figure. He was accused of being selfish and indifferent to the suffering of his fellow survivors on the raft. Nevertheless, his account of the shipwreck is an important document that helped to bring about reforms in the French navy.
