Jean-Marie Dayot

Infobox Military Person
name= Jean-Marie Dayot
lived= 1759-1809
placeofbirth= Port Louis, Ile Maurice
placeofdeath= Tonkin Gulf, Vietnam


caption=Jean-Marie Dayot (left) and his brother Félix Dayot (right).
nickname=
allegiance=
branch=French Navy
Vietnamese Navy
serviceyears=
rank=Commander
commands=
battles=Qui Nhon, 1792
awards=
laterwork=
portrayedby=

Jean-Marie Dayot (1759-1809) [Salles, p.199] was a French Navy officer and an adventurer who went into the service of Nguyen Anh, the future emperor Gia Long of Vietnam.

Originally from a Britany familly 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. [Mantienne, p.154] 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. [Mantienne, p.154]

Entering the service of Nguyen Anh, by 1790 he was in command of a naval division composed of two European warships belonging to Nguyen Anh. In 1792, he fought in the naval battle against the Tay Son in front of Qui Nhon, sinking 5 warships, 90 galleys and about 100 smaller boats. In 1793, against at Qui Nhon, he captured 60 Tay Son galleys. [Mantienne, p.154]

Jean-Marie Dayot also did considerable hydrographic work, making numerous maps of the Vietnamese coast, which were drawn by his talented brother. [Mantienne, p.156]

In 1795, Jean-Marie Dayot stranded his ship, was condemned for negligence and put to the cangue. Disgusted, he left Cochinchina. [Mantienne, p.154]

Jean-Marie Dayot then settled in Manilla, from where he traded with Mexico. He died in 1809 when his ship sank in the Gulf of Tonkin in 1809. His brother would die in Macao in 1821.

Notes

References

*Mantienne, Frédéric 1999 "Monseigneur Pigneau de Béhaine", Editions Eglises d'Asie, 128 Rue du Bac, Paris, ISSN 12756865 ISBN 2914402201
*Salles, André 2006 "Un Mandarin Breton au service du roi de Cochinchine", Les Portes du Large ISBN 291461201X