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| Persecution of the Huguenots according to Romeyn de Hooghe; Illustration from the Huguenot Museum in Germany http://www.huguenot-museum-germany.com/huguenots/galleries/romeyn-de-hooghe/007-hooghe-tirannien.php |
Marteilhe was born in Bergerac in 1684 into an affluent and well-educated Protestant family. In 1700, when the duc de La Force was given permission to "convert" the local Huguenots, twenty-two dragoons were forcibly billeted with the Marteilhe family, Jean's father was imprisoned and his mother tortured into signing a renunciation of her faith. Jean and a companion attempted to escape to Holland but were captured at the French frontier near Marienbourg and imprisoned in Tournay. Having been condemned to the galleys, the young men were held for several months in Lille. In January 1702 they were advised by the sympathetic prison governor to avoid the arduous march to Marseilles by joining the last of the bands of convicts heading for Dunkirk where the six galleys of the Atlantic fleet were based. They were given a wagon and spared the worst deprivations of the journey. On arrival, they were consigned to the galleys: Marteilhe served first on board the Heureuse commanded by Commodore de la Pailleterie, then later on the flagship La Palme.
The Chain gang
Marteilhe did not after all escape the horrors of the chain-gang for, after several years in the Atlantic fleet, following the surrender of Dunkirk to the English in 1712, he and twenty-two fellow Huguenots compelled to transfer to the galleys in Marseilles.
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| Illustration from Gaston Tournier's Les galères de France et les galériens protestants (1944) |
To an extent the Huguenots were spared the worse cruelties through the aid of the nouveaux convertis, who rushed to meet these "confessors of the truth"; in Paris a rich sympathiser paid "one hundred crowns to buy us off from blows" However, they could do little to mitigate the discomforts of the prisoners when, as at Rouen, they were crowded into a foul hole, or, as at the Tournelle, chained by the neck to huge beams, uable neither to sit norstand. Fortunately for Marteilhe he was detained here only three days and three nights.
This entry from the Marseilles register records Marteilhe's arrival from Dunkirk; his name is also preserved in an official roll of 47 slaves liberated in June 1713. See:
"Jean Marteilhe’s official traces" 27 April 2014
Tumblr post by Trompe-la-mort "Ça me connaît"
http://trompe-la-mort.tumblr.com/post/84051867268/jean-marteilhes-official-traces
The experience of the galériens
Marteihle's account includes a number of digressions on the nature of the galleys, and, in the appendices, more extended description of the galleys and the employment of the galériens when in the port. Here is one such passage where he elaborates on the experience of rowing a galley:
Marteihe first describes the exiguous conditions on board the galleys, and the way in which the galley slaves are chained, crowded together, on their benches: He goes on to explain their labour:
The method of rowing a galley
The Comite, who is Master of the Crew of
Slaves, and the Tyrant so much dreaded by the Wretches fated to this Misery;
stands always at the Stern, near the Captain, to receive his Orders. There are two Sous Comites also, one in the Middle, the other near the Prow. These, each with a Whip of Cords, which they
exercise without Mercy on the naked Bodies of the Slaves, are always attentive
to the Orders of the Comite. When the Captain gives the Word for rowing,
the Comite gives the Signal with a
Silver Whistle, which hangs from his Neck:
This is repeated by the Sous
Comites: Upon which the Slaves, who have their Oars in Readiness, strike
all at once, and beat Time so exactly, that the hundred and fifty Oars seem to
give but one Blow. Thus they continue, without
requring further Orders, till by another Signal of the Whistle, they desist in
a Moment. There is an absolute Necessity
for thus rowing all together; for should one of the Oars be lifted up, or fall
too soon; those before leaning back, necessarily strike the Oar behind them
with the hinder Part of their Heads; while the slaves of this, do the same by
those behind them. But it were well if a
few Bruises on the Head was the only Punishment: the Comite exercises the Whip on this Occasion like a Fury; while
the Muscles, all in Convulsion under the Lash, pour Streams of Blood down the
Seats; which who dreadful soever it may seem to the Reader, Use teaches the
Sufferer to bear without Murmuring.
But what
cannot Necessity and Cruelty make Men do?
Almost Impossibilities. Certain
it is, that a Galley can be navigated in no other Manner, but by a Crew of Slaves,
over whom a Comite may exercise the
most unbounded Authority. No free Man
could contnue at the Oar an Hour unwearied : yet a Slave must sometimes
lengthen out his Toil for Ten, Twelve;
nay, for Twenty Hours, without the smallest Intermission. On these occasions the Comite, or some of the other Mariners, put into the Mouths of
those Wretches a Bit of Bread steeped in Wine, to prevent Fainting through
Excess of Fatigue or Hunger, while their Hands are employed upon the Oar. At such Times, are heard nothing but horrid
Blasphemies, loud Bursts of Despair, or Ejaculations to Heaven; all the Slaves streaming with Blood, while
their unpitying Task-Masters mix Oaths and Threats, and the smacking of Whips,
to fill up this dreadful Harmony. At
this Time the Captain roars to the Comite
to redouble his Blows; and when any one drops from his Oar in a Swoon, which
not unfrequently happens, he is whipped while any Remains of Life appear, and
then thrown into the Sea without further Ceremony. How much happier is that unpitied Wretch,
than those he leaves behind! (p.57-9)
The bastinado
Marteilhe recounts how he was among sixty slaves re-distributed among the vessels shortly after his arrival. They were led to an open area belonging to the Arsenal, humiliatingly stripped and handled "as if they had been purchasing Oxen at a Fair". The men were divided into two classes, the weaker and the stronger. Marteilhe was allotted to the Palma whose comite was particularly vicious, though in fact he proved amenable to bribery - Marteilhe had his chains struck off and assigned to the comite's bench where he was eligible for scraps for the table. He was later transferred to another bench but escaped the rigours of the lash.
Having served at the oars over several campaigning seasons, Marteilhe was to sustain almost fatal injuries in an engagement with the British off the mouth of the Thames and, on his recovery, finally gained himself a trusted position as secretary to the commodore of the fleet, Langeron Maulevrier. Here we gain a glimpse of the organisation which had evolved to get money and help to the Protestant prisoners. Marteilhe acted as intermediary for the reception and distribution of remittances which he did successfully with the aid of a loyal Turkish shipmate. In Marseilles François Sabattier, who performed a similar service, was not so lucky and was mercilessly flogged, then confined to a dungeon in the Château d'If. (He was released in 1713).
After the arduous march to Marseilles, Marteilhe was released as part of a general amnesty in 1713. Little is known of his later life; he died in Holland in 1777 at the grand old age of 93.
References
The memoirs of a Protestant [J. Marteilhe] condemned to the galleys of France, for his religion
[Dublin 1765 edition]
https://archive.org/details/memoirsaprotest00martgoog
There are modern critical editions of Marteilhe's text in French (2001, edited by André Zysberg) and in English (2010, "Galley Slave" in the Seaforth Publishing series: Seafarers' voices)
The bastinado
According to Marteilhe, it was above all the capricious and sadistic power of the captains and overseers which made the life of the galériens unbearable. He might, he writes, have endured the labour, were he not subject to "the capricious Insolence of a Parcel of petty Tyrants". A brutal captain might arouse the chained rowers from their exhausted sleep merely to show a visitor how promptly he could set the galley in motion. Marteilhe's memoirs include one of the most graphic accounts of the dreaded "bastinado", not in the French galleys a "foot-whipping", but a vicious flogging:
The Criminal is stript from the Waist upward. He is extended with his Face downward, his Arms upon one Bench, and his Legs upon the Opposite, which are held by two Slaves that stand opposite each other. The Executioner, who is generally a Turkish Slave, stands over him with a Rope in his Hand, with which he is to beat the Criminal without the least Mercy ; for if he happens to be remiss, which is seldom the case, the Sous Comite [galley sergeant] uses him as he should have used the Criminal. Thus then every Stroke is laid on with the Executioner's whole Force, so that each Blow raises a Wheal as thick as one's Thumb. Few that are condemned to suffer this Punishment, can sustain above ten or twelve Blows without fainting. This, however, does not prevent the Executioner from proceeding. He continues to lay on the miserable and seemingly lifeless Carcase, till the Number of Blows ordered by the Major are Completed. Twenty or thirty are generally inflicted for slight Offences. I have seen fifty, eighty, even an hundred ordered ; but then those who are thus punished seldom recover. When the allotted Number of Stripes are given, the Surgeon Barber of the Galley rubs the Criminal's Back with Salt and Vinegar ; which, though it may prevent a Gangrene, yet renews all the Poignancy of his former Anguish. (p.55)
Marteilhe recounts how he was among sixty slaves re-distributed among the vessels shortly after his arrival. They were led to an open area belonging to the Arsenal, humiliatingly stripped and handled "as if they had been purchasing Oxen at a Fair". The men were divided into two classes, the weaker and the stronger. Marteilhe was allotted to the Palma whose comite was particularly vicious, though in fact he proved amenable to bribery - Marteilhe had his chains struck off and assigned to the comite's bench where he was eligible for scraps for the table. He was later transferred to another bench but escaped the rigours of the lash.
After the arduous march to Marseilles, Marteilhe was released as part of a general amnesty in 1713. Little is known of his later life; he died in Holland in 1777 at the grand old age of 93.
References
The memoirs of a Protestant [J. Marteilhe] condemned to the galleys of France, for his religion [Dublin 1765 edition]
https://archive.org/details/memoirsaprotest00martgoog
There are modern critical editions of Marteilhe's text in French (2001, edited by André Zysberg) and in English (2010, "Galley Slave" in the Seaforth Publishing series: Seafarers' voices)
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