Joseph Pierre Bastiani (1843 — 25 November 1924) was a pioneer of the pineapple trade in Singapore, as well as the founder of a cannery on the island.

Early life

Bastiani was born in

Corsica Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...

. He left Corsica at the age of 16 and spent the next few years employed at vineyards in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

Burgundy Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The c ...

and the Loire Valley. He enlisted in the French Army during the Franco-Prussian War and was awarded a gold medal for his service.

Career

After the war, he began working for

Messageries Maritimes ''Messageries Maritimes'' was a French merchant shipping company. It was originally created in 1851 as ''Messageries nationales'', later called ''Messageries impériales'', and from 1871, ''Compagnie des messageries maritimes'', casually known as ...

as a sailor. During his time as a sailor, he met writer

Joseph Conrad Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, ; 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Poles in the United Kingdom#19th century, Polish-British novelist and short story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in t ...

, who recommended that he move to Singapore. He left the company and moved to Singapore in 1874, where he and his brother established a pineapple cannery. In 1880, he exhibited four of his products at the

Melbourne International Exhibition The Melbourne International Exhibition is the eighth World's fair officially recognised by the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) and the first official World's Fair in the Southern Hemisphere. Preparations After being granted self-go ...

. In 1882, he and his brother began selling imported products in their shops on High Street. They soon began branching out into confectionaries and cakes, as well as the import of construction materials. In 1892, Bastiani handed ownership of the business over to his brother-in-law Joseph Cardella and retired to

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

, where he established a canned fruit factory. Cardella did not manage the business well and sold off some of the cannery's canning machines to a rival company, which began manufacturing boxes with Bastiani's stickers. Bastiani then returned to Singapore to retake ownership of the company. However, he sold his pineapple cannery in Summer 1900, and his entire business in 1902, after which he returned to Nice.

Personal life and death

Bastiani was married and had two sons. He died in Nice on 25 November 1924.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bastiani, Joseph 1843 births 1924 deaths French sailors People from British Malaya