Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs 35. (1982)
LY-TIO-FANE, Madeleine: Contacts between Schönbrunn and the Jardin du Roi at Isle de France (Mauritius) in the 18th Century. An Episode in the Career of Nicolas Thomas Baudin
104 Madeleine Ly-Tio-Fane Emperor Leopold II granted him such a commission on the 6th January 1792, with the privilege to wear the uniform of the Imperial Navy and the sword. This important result achieved, Baudin set about organising the expedition. On the 5th February he purchased from Captain Pierre Bratick, for the nominal sum of 76 000 livres, the ship ‘La Gloria’, aptly renamed ‘La Jardiniere’. Bratick intended to use the capital for fitting out a commercial expedition to the East Indies, but he was soon to transfer his rights to the rich Genoese merchant Gallera, who, besides assuming to finance the journey, including the crew’s pay, loaded it with a rich cargo belonging to him and to other members of the Genoese merchant community49“). Meanwhile Baudin had taken ‘La Jardiniere’ to Toulon to refit and to recruit the crew. Disturbed by the disorders in France and the insubordination which infected the crew, Baudin moved the ship to Genoa to finish the preparations and sent to Cobenzl a request for an escort of ten soldiers to keep the crew in subordination, a request which the Minister instructed the War Office to grant, adding as a cautionary measure, that the escort should be composed of soldiers on leave50). Andrian-Werburg perfidiously suggested that this was a trick to avoid the payment of commercial dues at ports of call: ‘mais pour oser librement entrer dans le port, sans payer les droits d’ancrage il demanda ä la Cour un détachement d’un Caporal et de dix hommes de troupes de terre pour se faire valoir en vaisseau de guerre’51). Baudin, however, may have been genuine in his request, judging that the presence of the soldiers required by the hazardous conditions on board reinforced the ‘official’ character of the Austrian frigate. This precaution was however to place Baudin in the greatest predicament. Rumours of France’s declaration of war on Austria reached him in Genoa where the French Ambassador let it be understood that the Austrian frigate would make a sensational first prize. Without waiting for the stores and goods dispatched from Trieste to reach him, Baudin in great haste set sail for Malaga on the 2nd of May, with the Baron Friedrich Andrian-Werburg and the botanists Franz Bredemeyer and Joseph van der Schot as passengers. Foregoing any action against the French ships he encountered, Baudin made the trip to Malaga in nineteen days, there to await fresh orders from Vienna or to take the most propitious decision for his future52). Malaga was a place where he had many connections; and with better information and the support and advice of his friends, several courses lay open to him: if he could not continue on his mission under the Austrian flag, he 49a) Memoir of Pietro Paolo Celesia: vide note 47. 50) Kriegsarchiv Wien Hofkriegsrat 1792-11-97 and 124 of 5th and 16th March 1792. 51) Andrian-Werburg to Kageneck, 23rd June 1792: HHStA Wien Staatenabteilungen Spanien 154 fol. 3r—4r. Compare with Baudin’s request in the ‘Mémoire’ (note 46) for two officers and 75 men of the infantry to be on board to cope with emergencies. 52) Baudin to Kageneck, Malaga, 23rd May 1792: ibid. 153 fol. 78r-79r.
