The The Wreck of the Medusa Essay -- essays research papers

In the moonlights ghostly glow,I waken in a dream.Once more upon the raft I stand, Upon the raging sea.In my ears the moans and screamsOf the dying ring,Somewhere in the darknessThe temptress softly singsThe architects of our doomAround their tables sit,And in their thrones of power, Condemn those theyve cast adrift.Echoes cut d sustain the city street,Their Harpies laughter rings.Waiting for the curtain c entirely, Oblivious in the wings. choice from the lyrics, The Wake of the medusan, By The PoguesThe Raft of the Medusa, by Theodore Gericault, 1819, was inspire by the catastrophic wreck of the French frigate, The Medusa, on July 2, 1816, off the west coast of Africa, during a voyage to Senagal. The ship ran aground on the Arguin Reef, in calm seas. In an attempt to preserve the lives of 400 passengers aboard, the crew, soldiers, sailors and passengers built a raft, manned the lifeboats and the raft, and abandoned the Medusa. What followed was a most harrowing experience that would altercate the soul and condemn the government of a world power.In 1816 the impudently formed French government sent a small pass by of ships to the British port of Saint-Louis, Senegal, carrying the appointed French Governor, Colonel Julien-Desire Schmaltz and his wife, for the formal settle of the village to France. The fleet consisted of four ships, The Argus, The Loire, The Medusa and The Echo. The Medusa was to transport the regulator along with 400 passengers, to re-establish the colony. Soon after departing the Port de Rochefort on June 17, 1816, the Medusa, piloted by an inexperienced captain, Hugues Duroy De Chaumereys, sailed quickly away from the rest of the fleet, leaving The Medusa, her crew and passengers to the benignity of the Atlantic.De Chaumereys, an incompetent sea captain, achieved his high ranking position due to semipolitical influences, and affiliation to the French Ministry of the Marine. He had prior experience as a customs officer for more than 20 years, and served against Napoleon, gaining him favor of the new Bourbon government, and disadvantage among the crew. He resisted the advice of subordinate officers and the personal experiences of more seasoned sailors and caused the wreck of the Medusa on the Arguin Bank.De Chaumereys attempted to save the Medusa by lightening her demoralise and discarding precious cargo designated for the Senegalese colony, into t... ... in the control of a less(prenominal) than qualified captain, and thus jeopardized the entire fleet, the crew and the contents designed for the colony at Senegal. A cover-up was affected, and Captain De Chaumereys was the person deemed liable and summarily court martialed, ruining his naval career.According to Savigny and Correard, men decorated with ribbons of all colors, who counted very well the number of their ancestors, but of whom it would have been useless to anticipate an account of their studies, being called to superior commands, have not been abl e to channelise anything but their orders and their unskilfulness. They have done more, they have had the privilege of losing the vessels and people of the State, without its being possible for the laws to reach them and after all, how could a tribunal have condemned them? They mogul have replied to their judges, that they had not passed their time in studying the regulations of the service, or the laws of the marine, and that, if they had failed, it was without noesis or design. In fact, it would be difficult to suppose that they intended to their own destruction they have but too well proved that they knew how to will for their own safety.