Schipbreuk en lotgevallen van Pieter Viaud, scheeps-kapitein, enz. Behelzende deszelfs vertrek van Bourdeaux, en schipbreuk op een onbewoond eiland; wonderlyke kloekmoedigheid van een Hollandsch matroos ten tyde der schipbreuk; rampen en ongelukken aldaar aan land, welke hy beneffens nog elf anderen van de equipagie heeft moeten ondergaan; hy blyft eindelyk alleen over met eene mevrouw en haar zoon en zynen neger .. Eene waare geschiedenis. Door hem zelven beschreeven. Gesterkt met een certificaat van dan heer Sevettenham, commandant van het Engelsch fort St. Marc des Apalaches.

Amsterdam, Petrus Conradi, 1771.20th century cloth. Woodcut vignette on titel-page. 132 pp.Dutch translation of: Naufrage et aventures de Pierre Viaud, natif de Bordeaux, capitaine de navire, histoire véritable. Bordeaux 1768. - This book tells the extraordinary story of a French seaman who sailed from Bordeaux in February 1765 as mate in the Aimable Suzette, Captain St. Crie, bound for the West Indies. Forced by illness to remain on the small island of St. Louis, off the coast of Saint-Domingue (Haiti), Viaud enters into a partnership with a Haitian resident, monsieur Desclau, to trade goods to Louisiana. They hire a vessel, the Tigre, Captain La Couture, and sail with sixteen passengers and crew on 2 January 1766. During the voyage the ship springs a leak, and on 16 February 1766 runs aground and breaks up on an island off the coast of Florida. Viaud's account of his adventures somehow fell into the hands of the French scholar Jean Gaspard Dubois-Fontanelle who published it at Bordeaux in 1768. Exacly how much is the work of Fontanelle himself is uncertain, but it was an instant bestseller and became one of the most reprinted and translated works of the 18th century. After many years of debate and indecision, the basic framework (at least) of Viaud's account is now regarded as truthful (Howgego V, p.474-474). 'Probably the story of cannibalism accounted for the popularity of this narrative' (Huntress 80C). - Viaud's story became a bestseller in Europe and is still important for its early description of Florida.Not in Tiele or Cat. NHSM; Sabin 99414; Polak 9438.