[NAPOLÉON I]. Auguste DEMACHY, apprentice sailor on the Bell - Lot 536

[NAPOLÉON I]. Auguste DEMACHY, apprentice sailor on the Belle-Poule. Autograph manuscript signed, La Frégate la Belle Poule à Ste Hélène, [December 1840]; small 38-page in-4 notebook plus title, reused parchment cover. Detailed account of La Belle Poule's voyage to return Napoleon's ashes. The account is addressed to his brother Léon, and retraces the frigate's voyage, from departure from Toulon on July 7, after the Prince de Joinville, Generals Bertrand and Gourgaud, along with Las Cases, had boarded; the navigation with stopovers in Cadiz, Madeira, Tenerife, the crossing of the line, Bahia; the arrival at Saint Helena, the visit to the Emperor's tomb (where he picks a piece of the willow tree), then at Longwood, whose condition arouses the indignation of the generals. Detailed account of the exhumation at midnight on October 14th (small sketch of the grate surrounding the tomb), and of the opening of the coffins: "The Emperor was found dressed in a hunter's uniform [...] his hat between his legs [...] The urn containing his heart was also placed between his legs. The emperor's face had not changed, only his nose was a little flattened"... A convoy brought the coffin back to the ship, where the absolution ceremony was performed, with mass on deck the following day. After copying the orders of the day of October 13, Demachy recounts the departure from St. Helena on October 18, and the return trip.