September 1. 1916.) 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



651 



Captain Landolphe, Pioneer and Privateer. 



rhe great FtcucIi bolanisi, Palisot de Beauvois, ga^c ilu- name Landolphia to the African vines that havi 

 of the .-Urican rubber. That the name teas given in hcnor of a brilliant pioneer, privateer and adventiirei 

 forgotten. This sketch, therefore, from the "Annates de I'fnstitut Colonial de I'Marseilte" will be read u-ilh 



in the past, produced a great proportion 

 Captain Landolphe, has perhaps been 



LANDOLPHE. tlie youngest .if 23 children of an arclier of 

 the royal army, was born at Auxonne, in Burgundy. Feb- 

 ruary 5, 1747. At the age of 18 he went to Paris to study 

 to become a surgeon. But he soon tired of this and tied to 

 Nantes and later shipped as secretary on the "Royal Loui.^." 

 bound for St. Doiningo. March 7, 1767. 



On a second voyage, tlie ship was wrecked, and of 120 on 

 board only 20 escaped, and Landolphe was rescued after clinging 

 to the mainmast for 16 hours. 



After other ups and downs, Landolphe found himself on the 

 slave-ship "r.-Kfricaine," sailing on March 5, 1769, for the Slave 

 Coast. With liis comrades he bought 360 negroes, which he sold 

 at Cape Frangais, St. Domingo, returning to Nantes with a 

 heavier purse and proliably a harder heart. 



On another trip, Landolphe made a longer stay in .\irii:a. 

 learned the language and the manners of the natives, got into 

 the good graces of tlie little inland kings, especially witli a 

 certain Danican, who proposed he establish a business, to deal 

 in and export the products of the coun- 

 try, which plan. Imuever, he did not adopt 

 till later. 



Between voyages Landolphe followed 

 hydrographieal courses given Ijy two 

 noted professors . and mathematicians of 

 Nantes, Levetiue and Guiraud, and grad- 

 uated as sea captain in March, 1775. 



From that time, Landolphe led two 

 lives : the one, that of the founder of a 

 colony that could have become the basis 

 of a French .Africa, and the other, the 

 life of a privateer. 



After many attempts, and as many set- 

 backs, Landolphe secured the command of 

 the "Negresse." a ship carrying 90 sea- 

 men and armed with 20 cannon. War 

 had just Iiroken out in .\merica, and 

 France was talking of extending help in 

 the revolutionists. .M the port of Belem, 

 near Ltsbon, Portugal. Landolphe rescucl 

 17 American prisoners who had jumped 

 overboard from a British man-of-war and, i \i i 



seeing the llciir-de-lis floating from hii 

 mast, swam to the "Negresse." The British claimc 

 prisoners. Landolphe refused on the ground that he was 

 exercising his neutral rights. Being in Portuguese waters, and 

 not too numeri'us, the F.nglish did not insist, Init set about to 

 make things uncomfortal)le, One day as Landolphe was going 

 ashore, he found the landing stage crowded with boats from tlie 

 British fleet. He ordered his men to row with all possible speed. 

 and ran his boat, head on, into a British launch, sank it. and 

 was ashore with his armed men in time to meet the onnishing. 

 infuriated sailors. Tlie affair ended with an exchange of words 

 instead of blows. Following this a British frigate waited for 

 Landolphe outside of the Portuguese territorial waters, inn he 

 escaped. 



After many trips, sea battles and storms, after visiiini; \'ew 

 York and other American ports, Landolphe olita'ncd tlu in- 

 dorsement and the aid of the King, sailed liack to Benin with 

 three ships, hoisted the white flag of France on a fort constructeil 

 by his engineers, and set about to organize a French colon\. 



In the meantime, the naturalist of his expedition. Palisot de 

 Beauvois, was collecting samples for the great work he was to 

 publish later under the title of "Flora of Oware and of Benin." 

 This was published in 1804-1811, in 20 volumes and with 120 

 colored illustrations. Illustration XXX IV showed the Lan- 

 dolpliia ownriensis. a plant justly named after tlie organizer of 

 the expedition. 



.•\t Oware on the JJenin coast, Landolphe established a trading 

 liost. and was doing a business of more than $6,000 per day when 

 the I'jiglish by an unexpected attack utterly destroyed the post. 

 Landolphe later equipped a ship and sailed to Guadeloupe, arriv- 

 ing there at the outbreak of the French Revolution. He took 

 part with the republicans, organized an army, and subdued the 

 revolt. England, taking advantage of the internal trouble of 

 France, started to appropriate her West Indian colonies. Lan- 

 doljihe armed a powerful ship, and started privateering. Pur- 

 sued ))y a British fleet he took refuge in the port of Baltimore. 

 The British blockaded the Chesapeake, but Landolphe eluded the 

 lilockade, returned to Guadeloupe, drove 

 the British out of the island, recaptured 

 St. .Martin and St. Eustache, and repro- 

 visioned St. Domingo. Surrounded by 

 the British fleet off St. Thomas, he and 

 his men captured two British frigates by 

 lnjarding, but were later overcome by the 

 Miperiority of the British artillery. 

 Landolphe was captured, and after many 

 months in prison, he was taken to Eng- 

 land and linally released unconditionally, 

 liaving refused to accept a parole. 



Returning to France, Landolphe was ac- 

 initted by court-martial for the loss of his 

 ships, and obtained from Xap.iIeon, then 



il, the command 



cruismg 



liieir 



expedition to the coast of .Africa. He 

 fought several successful battles with 

 British fleets, destroyed the Portuguese 

 African trade also, crossed the .Atlantic 

 to Buenos . Vires and took part in the 

 <lefense of that city. He destroyed many 

 British ships in South Anurioan .Atlantic 

 ports from the Plata river to Bahia 

 Blaiua. Taken prisoner, he was conlined to an island in the bay 

 of K'io de Janeiro, 1)ut, thanks to his being a Free Mason, as 

 were the British admiral who captured him, and the Portu- 

 guese commander at Rio, he was allowed to go to Lisbon and 

 to Madrid, where he was exchanged. Returning penniless to 

 France, he retired to his home town, where he wrote his 

 memoirs, which were published in Paris in 1823. 

 Landolphe died in Paris July 13, 1825. 



Palisot de Beauvois was certainly well inspired in choosing 

 this vine lo perpetuate the name of Captain Landolphe. The 

 Landolphia nwarirnitis is the principal source of the rubber 

 collected Tin tlie west coast of .\frica from Sierra-Leone to 

 .\ngola. 



On the ollur hand, in I-rencli (luinea, in the Soudan and in 

 the Senegal, tlie idant thai takes its place is of a neighboring 

 species, the Landolphia Hendelotii, while in the French Congo 

 and the Congo Free State (Belgian Congo) the blacks tap the 

 t.andolphia owari.-iisi.'i and the f.niidolphia Forrlii. 



