Alain Gerbault

Gerbault (r.), 1929

Alain Gerbault (born November 17, 1893 in Laval , † December 16, 1941 in Dili , today East Timor ) was a French sailor, writer and tennis player. Between 1923 and 1929 he circumnavigated the world alone in a sailing boat.

Early years and tennis career

Coming from a family of industrialists, Gerbault studied civil engineering in Dinard . At the beginning of the First World War , he volunteered for the Air Force and became a successful pilot. After the war Gerbault took part in international tennis tournaments. In a total of six individual appearances at the Wimbledon Championships between 1920 and 1930, however, he only got past the first round in 1921. In 1922 he reached the final of the Monte Carlo tournament , in which he was defeated by the Italian Balbi di Robecco in three sets.

Circumnavigation

During his stay in England in 1921, Gerbault bought the Slup Firecrest . Already in his youth he had learned to sail on his father's yacht and was thinking about going on a longer sailing trip.

Gerbault, with Queen Johanna Marau of Tahiti

On June 6, 1923, Gerbault set out from Gibraltar on his circumnavigation of the world. After 101 days he reached New York . In September he continued his journey from there. On April 1, 1924 he reached the entrance to the Panama Canal at Colón , which he then crossed. After a short stay, he set sail again on May 31, and after a stopover in the Galapagos Islands, after 49 days , he arrived at Mangareva in French Polynesia . Here he stayed for almost two years on various islands in the Marquesas Archipelago and Tahiti . On May 21, 1926, he continued his journey, survived a severe storm at the island of Uvea and drove into the Indian Ocean via the Torres Strait . After further stops on the Cocos Islands , Mauritius and Madagascar , he reached Durban, South Africa, in December 1927 . After the Cape of Good Hope , he called at the islands of St. Helena , Ascension , the Cape Verde Islands and finally the Azores in the Atlantic . On July 26, 1929, he finally returned to Le Havre , where he was given a triumphant welcome. In August he was accepted into the French Legion of Honor .

Return to the South Seas

In 1932 Gerbault returned to the South Seas on board a new boat named after himself and spent the following years on various islands in French Polynesia . He dealt intensively with the language and culture of the local population and criticized the European colonization.

After the outbreak of World War II and the occupation of France by German troops, Gerbault withdrew to the neutral Portuguese colony of Timor . In December 1941, weakened by various tropical diseases and alcoholism , he died at the age of 48 in a hospital in Dili . He was buried in the Santa Cruz Cemetery.

Works

• Seul à travers l'Atlantique. Grasset, 1925.
• À la poursuite du soleil, journal de bord. De New York à Tahiti. Grasset, 1929.
• Sur la route you back. Journal de bord II de Tahiti vers la France. Grasset, 1929.
• En marge des traversées: l'évangile du soleil. Fasquelle, 1932.
• Iles de beauté. , Gallimard, 1941.
• Un paradis se meurt. , Self 1949.
• Mon bateau l'Alain Gerbault. Amiot-Dumont, 1952.
• OZYU Dernier journal. Grasset, 1952.

literature

• Jean-Paul Alaux, Jacques Boullaire: Alain Gerbault, marin légendaire. Éditions géographiques maritimes et coloniales, Paris 1950.
• Max Ferré: Alain Gerbault, navigateur solitaire. Gedalge, Paris 1955.
• Éric Vibart: Alain Gerbault, vie et voyages d'un dandy révolté des années folles. Payot & Rivages, Paris 2001. ISBN 978-2228894432 .
• Suzanne Sens: Découverte d'Alain Gerbault. Éditions Siloë, Nantes 1993. ISBN 978-2908924435 .