Francis Garnier

Lieutenant-de-vaisseau (French Navy Lieutenant) Marie Joseph François Garnier (in Vietnamese, Ngạc Nhi) (25 Jul. 1839, Saint-Étienne — 21 Dec. 1873, in action during the Hanoi siege) was one of the first French explorers to extensively write about Cambodia, the Mekong River, Indochina, Tibet and China.

After joining the Navy at age 15, he navigated to the South American coasts and joined the staff of Admiral Charnier in 1860 for the ​“campaign of China and Cochinchina.” Nicknamed ​“Mademoiselle Bonaparte” by his comrades for his slender and fragile frame, Garnier developed early the idea of a powerful French Empire in Asia. Named administrator of Cholon (Saigon) in 1863, he published in 1864 a pamphlet, La Cochinchine francaise, under the pen name of G. Francis. 

In June 1866, Garnier joined in Saigon the Mission d’exploration du Mékong under the command of Captain Ernest Doudart de Lagrée, with (among others) anthropologist and physician Louis Joubert, botanist Clovis Thorel, sailor-photographer Émile Gsell, draughtsman and architect Louis Delaporte, and Louis de Carné Jr. from the French Foreign Ministry. As a commandant-in-second, he was in charge of hydrographic, meteorologic and cartographic reports.

Upon Doudart de Lagrée’s death in Yunnan Province, he took over the Mission, leading it up to Shanghai and sailing back to Saigon in June 1868. After a stint as a cartographer at the Navy Ministry in Paris, and a recognition of his work (along with famous explorer David Livingstone) by the French Société de Géographie, he traveled back to Shanghai with his spouse and carried on several solo explorations, having obtained an honorary leave from the Navy.

Called back by Contre-Amiral Dupré, the then Governor of Cochinchina, Garnier reached Hanoi in Nov. 1873. On Dec. 21, he was injured and capured by Chinese-Annamite pirates operating in the area, the Pavillons-Noirs. He was found decapitated and emasculated. Despite his quite sulfurous reputation — he was accused by some of embezzlment –, he was later granted state funerals in Paris, and no less than five French battleships have been named after him.

In 1873, Garnier co-authored with Doudart de Lagrée and Delaporte the Atlas du voyage d’exploration effectué en Indochine pendant les années 1866, 1867 et 1868 (Paris, Hachette). Before that, he had published his travelogue in Le Tour du Monde review, later posthumously collected in the volume Voyage d’exploration en Indochine.

Albert de Pouvourville has written a portrait of Francis Garnier: Francis Garnier, Les grandes figures coloniales 7, Plon, 1931 (e‑version via gal​li​ca​.bf​.fr) [illustration above from the book.]

Publications 

1. La Cochinchine française, 1864.
2. De la Colonisation de la Cochinchine, 1865.
3. Voyage en Indo-Chine,1868.
4. Ta-ly, épisode du voyage d’exploration en Indo-Chine, 1869.
5. “Voyage d’exploration en Indo-Chine”, 22 livraisons du Tour du Monde, 1870 – 1871.
6. Voyage de Gérard van Wusthof au Laos, traduit du hollandais par M. Voelkel, 1871.
7. Le Siège de Paris, Journal d’un officier de marine, attaché au *** secteur, 1872.
8. Les Routes commerciales avec la Chine, 1872.
9. La Chronique royale du Cambodge, traduite du cambodgien par M. de Lagrée et ses interprètes, 1873, Imprimerie nationale.
10. Voyage d’exploration en lndo-Chine, Publication officielle, 1873: 2 vols, 1 atlas, 1 album (1875) [with L. Delaporte, Joubert, Thorel et Thomas Ko] 
11. Voyage dans la Chine centrale, 1874.
12. De Paris au Tibet, 1882.
13. Voyage d’exploration en Indo-Chine, 1885. [From 1870 – 1871 Tour du Monde publications].