{ "schema": "https://archive.neruda-archives.org/files/context/public-context-v1.schema.json", "identifier": "NRA-L-000080", "language": "en", "status": "published", "title": "Bringing a naval surgeon home from Gorée", "deck": "A father's request, a colonial ministry's route and the practical limits of repatriation in 1860", "reviewed_on": "2026-07-30", "version": "1.0", "sections": [ { "heading": "A ministry reply to a father", "paragraphs": [ { "text": "The Ministry of Algeria and the Colonies was replying to Pierre-Hippolyte-Célestin Thézé's letter of 6 December 1859. It authorized the body of his son, Jean-Baptiste Auguste Thézé, to travel at the department's expense on the first state vessel sailing from Senegal to Brest. The son had died at Gorée on 10 October 1859.", "sources": [ 1, 2 ] } ] }, { "heading": "The route and its limits", "paragraphs": [ { "text": "The coffin could not be sent directly to Rochefort because, according to the ministry, the city had no lazaretto and the coffin first had to be deposited in such an establishment. The Navy would not undertake the onward journey from Brest. The state accepted the colonial sea passage, but the father was required to arrange the final transfer himself.", "sources": [ 1 ] } ] }, { "heading": "The two Thézé careers", "paragraphs": [ { "text": "The French naval personnel index independently confirms Jean-Baptiste Auguste Thézé, born at Rochefort on 5 March 1824, as a surgeon who died on 10 October 1859. The same index records Pierre-Hippolyte-Célestin Thézé, born in 1798, as a deputy commissary. These entries support the corrected identification of the deceased son and the retired naval administrator addressed by the ministry.", "sources": [ 1, 2 ] } ] }, { "heading": "Gorée in the yellow-fever epidemic", "paragraphs": [ { "text": "Two later naval-history sources identify Jean-Baptiste Auguste Thézé as head of the health service at Gorée and attribute his death to the yellow-fever epidemic of 1859. A municipal memorial record at Rochefort also lists THEZE 1859 among naval doctors and pharmacists who died in service. The ministry's own letter, however, gives only the place and date of death and does not state its cause.", "sources": [ 1, 3, 4, 5 ] } ] } ], "evidence_limits": [ { "text": "The family relationship, official route, date of death and naval occupations are directly documented or independently confirmed. Yellow fever is supported by later specialist sources but is not named in the ministry letter. The later note that a copy was sent to Charles does not identify Charles, and the sources reviewed do not yet document the coffin's eventual arrival or final burial.", "sources": [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ] } ], "sources": [ { "id": "source-1", "kind": "Primary source · official letter", "citation": "Neruda Archives, NRA-L-000080, Ministry of Algeria and the Colonies to Pierre-Hippolyte-Célestin Thézé, 30 January 1860.", "url": "https://archive.neruda-archives.org/NRA-L-000080", "link_text": "View the archive record", "support": "Supports the father-son relationship, death at Gorée, proposed transport, lazaretto requirement, onward responsibility and later copy note." }, { "id": "source-2", "kind": "Military archival index", "citation": "Service historique de la Défense, Marine personnel alphabetical index, MV CC 7 ALPHA 2353, entries for Jean-Baptiste Auguste Thézé and Pierre-Hippolyte-Célestin Thézé.", "url": "https://www.servicehistorique.sga.defense.gouv.fr/sites/default/files/2019-10/SHDMV_MV_CC_7_ALPHA_POULET_VERNYS_1.pdf", "link_text": "Open the personnel index", "support": "Confirms both full identities, birth details, occupations and Jean-Baptiste Auguste's death date." }, { "id": "source-3", "kind": "Naval biographical reference", "citation": "Parcours de vies dans la Royale, “Jean Baptiste Auguste Thézé (1824-1859).”", "url": "https://parcoursdeviesdanslaroyale.fr/officiers_theze_jean.htm", "link_text": "Read the naval biography", "support": "Identifies Thézé as head of the health service at Gorée and attributes his death to yellow fever." }, { "id": "source-4", "kind": "Specialist historical publication", "citation": "Images & Mémoires, Bulletin no. 64, spring 2020, p. 30.", "url": "https://imagesetmemoires.com/doc/Articles/bulletin-64-at-fievre-jaune-red.pdf", "link_text": "Open the bulletin", "support": "Documents Thézé's grave, role at Gorée and attribution to the 1859 yellow-fever epidemic." }, { "id": "source-5", "kind": "Municipal memorial record", "citation": "Ville de Rochefort, “Plaque en hommage aux pharmaciens et médecins de l'école de médecine navale décédés en service.”", "url": "https://www.ville-rochefort.fr/plaque-en-hommage-aux-pharmaciens-et-medecins-de-lecole-de-medecine-navale-decedes-en-service", "link_text": "View the memorial record", "support": "Lists THEZE 1859 among naval medical personnel remembered as having died in service." } ], "claims": [ { "id": "NRA-L-000080-claim-01", "statement": "Jean-Baptiste Auguste Thézé died at Gorée on 10 October 1859 and was the son of the letter's recipient, Pierre-Hippolyte-Célestin Thézé.", "evidence_type": "independently_confirmed", "certainty": "confirmed", "source_ids": [ "source-1", "source-2" ] }, { "id": "NRA-L-000080-claim-02", "statement": "The ministry authorized transport from Senegal to Brest but required the father to arrange the onward transfer to Rochefort.", "evidence_type": "stated_in_document", "certainty": "documentary", "source_ids": [ "source-1" ] }, { "id": "NRA-L-000080-claim-03", "statement": "Jean-Baptiste Auguste Thézé's death is attributed by later specialist sources to the 1859 yellow-fever epidemic.", "evidence_type": "independently_confirmed", "certainty": "strongly_supported", "source_ids": [ "source-3", "source-4", "source-5" ] }, { "id": "NRA-L-000080-claim-04", "statement": "The ministry letter itself does not state the cause of death or document the final arrival and burial of the remains.", "evidence_type": "unresolved", "certainty": "open", "source_ids": [ "source-1" ] } ] }