First and only rare edition of a late-19th-century French maritime memoir, published in Algiers in 1884 and attributed on the title page to "un officier de marine en retraite". The present work is printed by Adolphe Jourdan (1846-1916), a retired naval officer who later became a prominent printer, bookseller, and publisher in colonial Algeria.
Written in the form of personal recollections, the present work presents a candid and understated account of a naval career described by its author as modest rather than illustrious. In the opening address to a friend, the author disclaims any literary ambition and omits what he considers overly technical detail, while acknowledging that certain aspects of maritime life can scarcely be expressed without professional terminology. The result is a quietly compelling narrative that combines lived experience with the rhythms and realities of 19th-century naval service.
The memoir covers voyages across the South Seas, the River Plate, the Mediterranean, the French coasts, and the China Sea, and names numerous French naval vessels, both sailing ships and steamships. Among them are Le Bucéphale, LÉrigone, Le Gassendi, La Loire, Le Valmy, Le Saint-Louis, La Semiramis, Le Hong-Kong, and La Dordogne. Episodes at sea are interspersed with periods ashore, and the narrative touches on major historical events such as the Crimean War and the Italian War, viewed from the perspective of a working naval officer.
The preface offers a reflective meditation on the naval profession itself. The author defends the sea as a calling requiring early vocation and instinct, lamenting the declining recruitment of young officers and affirming, despite his own unremarkable advancement, that the navy remained for him "the finest career in the world."
Beyond its maritime interest, the book is also significant as a product of Algerian colonial print culture. Jourdan was a major figure in Algiers as a printer, lithographer, publisher, and bookseller, known for his atlases of North Africa, Arabic-language textbooks, and legal publications. His press was widely regarded as the leading printing house in Algeria, and he was appointed an officer of the Légion dHonneur in 1903.
With an book binding plate mounted on the first endpaper "Relieur J. Grolleau, 34 Rue Lafayette Rochefort sur mer". Otherwise in very good condition. No copies traced in relevant bibliographies or institutional catalogues.