L'Utile is a ship of the French Company of oriental India in campaign in Mascareignes. Left Bayonne on November 17th, 1760, shipwrecked on July 31st, 1761 on the Sand island (Tromelin) whereas it transports slaves intended for Mauritius coming from Madagascar.
The crew regains Madagascar in a boat of fortune, leaving sixty slaves on the island and promising to come back and fetch them.
This promise was never kept and only after 15 years, on November 29th 1776, that the knight of Tromelin, commanding the ship La Dauphine, saved eight surviving slaves: seven women and a baby of eight months old.
The wreck of L'Utile was located by the meteorologists who ensure the exploitation at the weather station installed on the island since 1954.

Director: Thierry Ragobert
Scriptwriters: Emmanuel Roblin & Thierry Ragobert

Second archaeological excavation campaign on the island of Tromelin:
The results exceeding all the hopes.
Besides the study of the shipwreck site of L'Utile, the first archaeological mission carried out in 2006, had the chance to update an element of the habitat of the slaves, objects of the everyday life and had provided the first elements of reflexion on the conditions of survival of the slaves.
Directed by the "Groupe de Recherche en Archéologie Navale "(GRAN) with the assistance of an archaeologist of the INRAP (Institut National de Recherche Archéologique Préventive), the mission proceeded from October 27th to December 1st, its ambition was to look further into knowledge on the material living conditions of the slaves, but also on their degree of social organization.
The localization of tombs constituted another objective of research.

Production: MC4 - Inrap, 2010

Running time (2 versions): 52' & 25'


Project :
"Forgotten slaves" Mission 2008
Shipwreck of l'Utile on the Island of Tromelin (1761)
27th October - 1st December 2008
www.archeonavale.org/Tromelin