Robert Surcouf

Knight of the Légion d'honneur

Robert Surcouf was born in Saint-Malo, Brittany, on December 12, 1773. Considered one of the finest sailors France has ever had, he came from a family of shipowners and privateers, descended from the famous René Duguay-Trouin on his mother's side. In other words, the call of the sea ran through his veins...

He began sailing in 1786, then traded in blacks on the coasts of Madagascar and Mozambique.

In 1794, he was promoted to long-distance captain and took part in the racing war against English trade in the Indian Ocean, where he brilliantly captured six ships.

But it was in 1796, at the age of twenty-three, that he made his name when, with a crew of 190 men, he boarded a large British vessel, three times larger and more heavily armed than his own. From one exploit to the next, in 1800 he became a living legend with the capture of the HMS Kent and her schooner La Confiance in the Bay of Bengal.

In just five years, he succeeded in attacking some 50 British and Portuguese ships, mostly merchant vessels, which were then allies. Considered in England as the public enemy to be captured, a price of five million francs was put on his head.

Returning to France in 1801, he married and settled in Saint-Malo. Made a knight of the Legion of Honor on June 14, 1804, he set sail again for the Indian Ocean in 1807. During this last campaign, he made no less than sixteen catches.

In addition to his warlike activities, he played an important role as a shipowner. He fitted out privateer ships operating on his behalf in the Indian Ocean, commanded in particular by his brother, Nicolas, and his cousin, Joseph Potier.

Colonel of the Saint-Malo national guard, head of the legion during the Hundred Days, Surcouf devoted himself, once peace had returned, to commercial shipping to the Indian Ocean, Africa and North America. A daring fighter and remarkable maneuverer, Surcouf was also an independent-minded man, refusing all offers to join the French navy.

He succumbed to cancer on July 8, 1827 at his country home in Saint-Servan (now part of Saint-Malo).

After a funeral in the same church where he had been baptized, Robert Surcouf was buried  in the Rocabey cemetery. The epitaph on his tombstone reads:

A famous sailor has ended his career

He is in the grave forever asleep

The sailors are deprived of their father

The unfortunate have lost their friend.

A bronze statue  of Surcouf, signed Alfred Caravaniez, overlooks the ramparts of Saint-Malo.

Philately: In 1951, the Post Office of the French Republic issued a 12 F + 4 F stamp bearing the effigy of Robert Surcouf , and the Post Office of Mauritius issued two stamps of 2.50 and 0.60 rupees in his honor.