Louisa Journeaux

From Jerripedia
Jump to: navigation, search



LouisaJourneauxicon.png


Louisa Journeaux


LouisaJourneaux.png


Louisa Journeaux was born at Elder Cottage, St Clément’s Road on 8 February 1864. She appears to have lived a quiet, unremarkable life until, at the age of 22, her name became well-known on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean

By Brian Nibbs, first published in St Clement parish magazine

Moonlight row

After leaving church on the evening of Palm Sunday, 18 April 1886, Louisa and her cousin, Julia Wiltshire, encountered two Frenchmen, a Jules Farné and MG Radiguet. Inexplicably, they then walked together to the Harbour and hired a couple of skiffs, to enjoy what a contemporary report described as ‘a pleasant row in the moonlit of an unseasonably mild night’.

They split into pairs, and Louisa was in the boat being rowed by Jules. As they approached the Small Roads, they tried to return, but disaster struck. With the tide ebbing fast, first Jules lost an oar whilst turning the skiff, then the remaining oar also slipped from his hand. Telling Louisa he was a good swimmer, he jumped overboard to retrieve them.

However, in the strong current, Louisa drifted seaward and out of reach, leaving Jules to strike out for land instead. Responding to shouts of anguish, the hirer of the boats, a Mr du Feu, eventually found Jules clinging to a pier-head chain, but there was no sight of the skiff or its sole occupant, Louisa.

According to her account, published in the British Press and Jersey Times of 11 June 1886, Louisa had heard Jules crying for help and in turn, had called out and ‘continued shrieking until I became quite fatigued’. By midnight, it had begun to rain heavily, and a frightened and bedraggled Louisa was forced to use Jules’s felt hat to bail out her fragile little craft as it drifted further out to sea.

Rescue

Early on the second day came a stroke of luck: ‘I saw a sail coming towards me from France, and my spirits began to revive’. Alerted by her frantic handkerchief signals, the brigantine Tombold of St Malo, commanded by Captain Edouard Landgren, picked up the reluctant voyager a full 20 miles off Jersey. What she describes as ‘a hospitable vessel’ became her floating home for some 28 days.

By the time she was landed at St George’s Bay, Newfoundland on 19 May 1886, she had travelled over 2,600 miles. It was later established that a violent offshore wind had prevented Captain Landgren from approaching Jersey to land Louisa.

Meanwhile, back in St Helier, on the day following the incident, a tug was dispatched to search for Louisa but returned without her. An attempted search the previous evening by the Harbourmaster, Captain Bichard and his deputy Captain Allix in rowing boats had also proved fruitless.

It remains unknown why the lifeboat was not launched nor was HMS Mermaid, based at Gorey, requested to assist. Farné was subsequently arrested by Centenier Le Gros and tried by Judge Gibaut on a charge of neglect and imprudence, causing the death or disappearance of Louisa Journeaux. However, the charges were dropped as there was insufficient evidence to convict him. Nevertheless, due to the hostility of Islanders, he left for Paris.

Having feared all hope was lost, Louisa’s father was overjoyed to receive a telegram on 10 May 1886 from the Colonial Secretary for the Government of Newfoundland which read: ‘Daughter Louisa picked up near England and landed at St George’s Bay. Quite well.’

She was taken to St John’s Newfoundland where she was given a complete new outfit from the store of Bowring Brothers and dined with the Governor at Government House. Fully recovered, Louisa eventually departed from St John’s on 2 June 1886 on board the Siberian bound for Liverpool, where she was greeted by her parents.

In all, 55 days had elapsed between her leisurely rowing trip with Farné to arriving back on the Brittany at St Helier Harbour on 12 June 1886, where her adventure had begun. By public subscription, sufficient funds were raised to present Captain Landgren with a gold medal at the Town Hall on 11 October 1886 in recognition of his services, while back in Newfoundland, the brook that flows into St George’s Bay, where she was landed, was renamed ‘Journeaux Brook’ to commemorate the incident.

As for Louisa, after recovering from her ordeal, she is reported as working in a ‘huge draper’s and haberdasher’s shop in St Helier’ and marrying a Londoner by the name of Wyse. She died on 30 August 1939, aged 75.

A report in The Graphic
Personal tools
other Channel Islands
contact and contributions
Donate

Please support Jerripedia with a donation to our hosting costs