Paris, 6 August. The newspaper l’Etoile published some tidings coming
from London dated the 6th based on an extra ordinary Mexican newspaper dated 15
June wherein the official tiding was published of the treaty dealing with the
surrender by the Spanish 58-gun Asia and the brig Constancia to Mexico. (1) The
brig le Marsouin arrived at Rochefort with tidings from the division off the
African coast of which she been part and left 17 June. The division was quite
busy preventing the slave trade.
Note
1. See for instance on this weblog ‘The Mexican Navy’. In his note “Did you
know? An early Jules Verne story was set in Mexico”, published by Tony Burton 1
May 2008 at www.mexconnect.com, Burton give quite a lot of interesting
information dealing with the book and the original events. See also
http://en.wikipedia.org the article “A Drama in Mexico (French: Un drame au
Mexique) a historical short story by Jules Verne. In a letter to his father
Verne wrote that it “is but a simple adventure-story in the style of Cooper
which I am locating in Mexico.” The story was first published in July 1851
under the title “The First Ships of the Mexican Navy” (“L’Amérique du Sud. Etudes
historiques. Les Premiers Navires de la Marine Mexicaine") in Museé des
Familles with three illustrations by Eugène Forest and Alexandre de Bar. The
revised version with six illustrations by Férat was published in 1876 together
with the novel Michel Strogoff as a part of the Voyages Extraordinaires series.
The first English translation by W. H. G. Kingston was published in edit] Plot
outline. In 1825, off the islands of Guam on a passage from Spain, Lieutenant
Martinez, and his associates plot a mutiny on board of two Spanish warships.
Conspirators murder Captain Don Orteva, take command of the ships, and plan to
sell them to the republican government in Mexico. But on arrival in Acapulco,
Lieutenant Martinez and Jose[who?] are forced to embark on a cross-country trip
to Mexico City that proves fatal to both.”
