Maurice Benyovszky- navigator, adventurer

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Anatol
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Maurice Benyovszky- navigator, adventurer

Post by Anatol » Fri Apr 15, 2022 7:21 pm

Count Maurice Benyovszky de Benyó et Urbanó (Hungarian: Benyovszky Máté Móric Mihály Ferenc Szerafin Ágost; Polish: Maurycy Beniowski; Slovak: Móric Beňovský; 20 September 1746 – 24 May 1786)[1] was a renowned military officer, adventurer, and writer from the Kingdom of Hungary, who described himself as both a Hungarian and a Pole.[2] He is considered a national hero in Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia.
Benyovszky was born and raised in Verbó, Kingdom of Hungary (present-day Vrbové, Slovakia). In 1769, while fighting for the Polish armies under the Bar Confederation, he was captured by the Russians and exiled to Kamchatka.
Over the next few months, Benyovszky and Stepanov, along with other exiles and disaffected residents of Kamchatka, organised an escape.
At the start of May, an armed uprising by the group overcame the garrison of Bolsheretsk, during which the commander, Grigorii Nilov, was killed.[26] The supply ship St Peter and St Paul, which had been over-wintering in Kamchatka, was seized and loaded with furs and provisions. On 23 May (Old Style: 12 May), the ship set sail from the mouth of the Bolsha River, and headed southwards.[27]
. At the end of August they arrived on the island of Formosa (present-day Taiwan), probably at Black Rock Bay, where three of the voyagers were killed during a fight with native islanders.[37] Then they sailed to the Chinese mainland, at Dongshan Island. Following the coast down from there, they finally arrived at Macao on 22 September 1771.
He subsequently returned to Europe via Macau and Mauritius, arriving in France. In 1773, Benyovszky reached agreement with the French government to establish a trading post on Madagascar. Facing significant problems with the climate, the terrain, and the native Sakalava people, he abandoned the trading post in 1776.
Benyovszky then returned to Europe, joined the Austrian Army and fought in the War of the Bavarian Succession.
He then made his way to the United States and, with a recommendation from Benjamin Franklin, whom he had met in Paris, attempted to persuade George Washington to fund a
militia under Benyovszky's leadership, to fight in the American War of Independence.[64]
Washington remained unconvinced, and Benyovszky then returned to Europe, arriving in Britain in late 1783. Here he submitted a proposal to the British government for a colony on Madagascar, but was again turned down.[66]
In April 1784, Benyovszky and several trading partners sailed to America, where a contract was agreed to with two Baltimore traders, Zollichofer and Meissonier.[69] The deal was for monetary investment in return for a regular supply of slaves. In October of that year, the ship Intrepid sailed for Madagascar, arriving near Cap St Sebastien in north-west of the island, June 1785. Here the expedition was met with aggression from the Sakalava people;
Anxious about another disruption to trade, François de Souillac, the French governor of Mauritius waited for fair winds and then sent a small military force over to Madagascar to deal with Benyovszky. On 23 or 24 May 1786, Benyovszky was ambushed and killed by these troops, and was buried on the site of his encampment.[71][72]
In 1790 Benevsky's posthumous and largely fictitious account of his adventures was published with great success under the title Memoirs and Travels of Count Mauritius Augustus de Benevsky, Volume 1 and Volume 2.
Hungary 2021.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice Benyovszky
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