Jean Baptiste Marie Dayot (Vietnamese name: Nguyễn Văn Trí / 阮文智, 1759–1809) was a

French Navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...

officer and an adventurer who went into the service of

Nguyễn Ánh Gia Long ( (''North''), ('' South''); 8 February 1762 – 3 February 1820), born Nguyễn Phúc Ánh (阮福暎) or Nguyễn Ánh, was the founding emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty, the last dynasty of Vietnam. His dynasty would rule the unif ...

, the future emperor

Gia Long Gia Long ( (''North''), ('' South''); 8 February 1762 – 3 February 1820), born Nguyễn Phúc Ánh (阮福暎) or Nguyễn Ánh, was the founding emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty, the last dynasty of Vietnam. His dynasty would rule the unif ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. Originally from a

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...

family settled in

Ile Bourbon Ile may refer to: * iLe, a Puerto Rican singer * Ile District (disambiguation), multiple places * Ilé-Ifẹ̀, an ancient Yoruba city in south-western Nigeria * Interlingue (ISO 639:ile), a planned language * Isoleucine, an amino acid * Another ...

, Jean-Marie Dayot was born in

Port Louis Port Louis (french: Port-Louis; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Polwi or , ) is the capital city of Mauritius. It is mainly located in the Port Louis District, with a small western part in the Black River District. Port Louis is the country's ec ...

, Ile Maurice. He became a ''Lieutenant de vaisseau auxiliaire'' in the French Royal Navy.Mantienne, p.154 He met with

Pigneau de Béhaine Pierre Joseph Georges Pigneau (2 November 1741 in Origny-en-Thiérache – 9 October 1799, in Qui Nhơn), commonly known as Pigneau de Béhaine (), also Pierre Pigneaux, Bá Đa Lộc ("Pedro" 百多祿), Bách Đa Lộc ( 伯多祿) and ...

either in the Île Bourbon or

Pondicherry Pondicherry (), now known as Puducherry ( French: Pondichéry ʊdʊˈtʃɛɹi(listen), on-dicherry, is the capital and the most populous city of the Union Territory of Puducherry in India. The city is in the Puducherry district on the sout ...

, and is thought to have commanded one of the two commercial ships which accompanied the warship ''Méduse'' with Pigneau de Behaine to Vietnam. Entering the service of Nguyễn Ánh, by 1790 he was in command of a naval division composed of two European warships belonging to Nguyễn Ánh. In 1792, he fought in the naval battle against the Tây Sơn in front of

Qui Nhơn Quy Nhon ( vi, Quy Nhơn ) is a coastal city in Bình Định province in central Vietnam. It is composed of 16 wards and five communes with a total of . Quy Nhon is the capital of Bình Định province. As of 2019 its population was 457,400. Hi ...

, sinking 5 warships, 90 galleys and about 100 smaller boats. In 1793, against at Qui Nhơn, he captured 60 Tây Sơn galleys.Mantienne, p.154 Jean-Marie Dayot also did considerable hydrographic work, making numerous maps of the Vietnamese coast, which were drawn by his talented brother. In 1795, Jean-Marie Dayot stranded his ship, was condemned for negligence and put to the cangue. Disgusted, he left Cochinchina.Contradictory with the version of Georges Taboulet in ''La geste française en Indochine : 1615-1857'' according to which Dayot left Cochinchina because some mandarins had been executed by Gia Long. Jean-Marie Dayot then settled in

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

, from where he traded with Mexico. He died in 1809 when his ship sank in the

Gulf of Tonkin The Gulf of Tonkin is a gulf at the northwestern portion of the South China Sea, located off the coasts of Tonkin (northern Vietnam) and South China. It has a total surface area of . It is defined in the west and northwest by the northern ...

. His brother would die in

Macao Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

in 1821.

Notes

References

*Mantienne, Frédéric 1999 ''Monseigneur Pigneau de Béhaine'', Editions Eglises d'Asie, 128 Rue du Bac, Paris, *Salles, André 2006 ''Un Mandarin Breton au service du roi de Cochinchine'', Les Portes du Large Map of Saigon 1795 Jean-Marie Dayot

Harbour of Qui Nhon 1795 Jean-Marie Dayot

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dayot, Jean-Marie 1759 births 1809 deaths French Navy officers Generals of the Nguyễn lords Mandarins of the Nguyễn lords People from Port Louis District