Historedia
Episode 2 of 4

Abandonment of the Raft

When
5 July 1816
Where
Banc d'Arguin
Part of
French frigate Méduse runs aground off Senegal; the raft scandal

High-ranking officials took lifeboats, leaving over 150 people on a makeshift raft that was abandoned.

The lifeboats carrying the captain and Governor Schmaltz reached the coast first. At least 150 people were set adrift on a hurriedly constructed raft on 5 July 1816.

Sources

  1. French frigate Méduse (1810) Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-05
  2. The Raft of the Medusa Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-23

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.