Jean-Marie Dayot

Who was Jean-Marie Dayot?

Jean Baptiste Marie Dayot was a French Navy officer and an adventurer who went into the service of Nguyễn Ánh, the future emperor Gia Long of Vietnam.

Originally from a Britany family settled in Ile Bourbon, Jean-Marie Dayot was born in Port Louis, Ile Maurice. He became a Lieutenant de vaisseau auxiliaire in the French Royal Navy. He met with Pigneau de Béhaine either in the Ile Bourbon or Pondicherry, and is thought to have commanded one of the two commercial ships which accompanied the warship Méduse with Pigneau de Behaine to Vietnam.

Entering the service of Nguyễn Ánh, by 1790 he was in command of a naval division composed of two European warships belonging to Nguyễn Ánh. In 1792, he fought in the naval battle against the Tây Sơn in front of Qui Nhơn, sinking 5 warships, 90 galleys and about 100 smaller boats. In 1793, against at Qui Nhơn, he captured 60 Tây Sơn galleys.

Jean-Marie Dayot also did considerable hydrographic work, making numerous maps of the Vietnamese coast, which were drawn by his talented brother.

In 1795, Jean-Marie Dayot stranded his ship, was condemned for negligence and put to the cangue. Disgusted, he left Cochinchina.