French ship Chameau

The French ship Chameau or Le Chameau (Camel) was a wooden sailing ship of the French Navy, built in 1717. She was used to transport passengers and supplies to New France (in present day Canada), making several trips. Nearing the end of her last voyage, a storm blew her onto some rocks on August 27, 1725. She sank, with the loss of all aboard; estimates range as high as 316 dead. In 1965, Alex Storm and his associates located the wreckage near Chameau Rock, and recovered a treasure of gold and silver pieces.

Chameau was built in Rochefort, France, in 1717, the brainchild of young naval architect Blaise Ollivier. After visiting English and Dutch shipyards, he envisioned a fast, yet well-armed naval transport called a flute. The Chameau had a "keel of 135 ft, a width of 31 ft, and a draft of 15 ft", and displaced 540, 600 or 650 tons. It was armed with "twenty 12-pounder cannons along the lower gun deck and two more in the stern. Twenty-two 6-pounders mounted on the upper deck completed a complement of 44 cannons."

From 1719 to 1725, she carried cargo, passengers, and funds from France the French colony in North America and returned with passengers and cargo such as wood, wood tar, and beaver pelts. Between 1720 and 1724, she was "commanded successively by de Voutron, de Lamirande, de Beauharnois and Meschi".

Chameau set out from La Rochelle on her final voyage in July 1725, under the command of Jean de Saint James. Aboard was a large quantity of gold, silver and copper coins; and dignitaries de Chazel, the new Intendant; and de Louvigny, the Governor-Elect of Trois-Rivières. Several miles east of her destination of Louisbourg, the ship was swept onto the rocks by a storm on August 27, 1725. Chameau sank, and all aboard perished; the reported number of dead ranges from 216 to "over 300" to 316. The 180 bodies that washed ashore were buried in a mass grave.

An unsuccessful attempt to salvage the cargo was not made until the following year. In 1965, Alex Storm and his associates found the wreck and brought up gold and silver coins. According to May 14, 1726 letter from the Minister of Marine, the funds lost amounted to "83,308 livres 11 sols 1 denier, including 27,258 livres 8 sols 9 deniers expended for clothing the troops at Quebec." By Storm's calculations, he "had made a nearly complete recovery of the funds shipped on the Chameau in 1725". In December 1971, most of the coins and artifacts were auctioned off. Some of the artifacts are displayed in the Louisbourg Maritime Museum.