Captain Jean François Castellan.

[Pair of manuscript outfitting accounts for the corvette La Cipris, bound for Cayenne].

Voyage of 1768:

Compte Général du Corps agens, Apparaux, armement & avitaillement de La Corvette La Cipris au premier voyage qu'elle va Dieu aidant faire à Cayenne sous le commandement du Cap^ne Jean François Castellan en 1768.

Marseille, May 14^th 1768.

Small folio (20 x 30 cm), [19, 3 blank] pp. Manuscript in ink and ruled in pencil on paper.

Stitched.

Voyage of 1770:

Compte General des aggres, apparaux, Armemens & Avituaillements [sic] de la Corvette La Cipris, commandée par le Cap^ne Jean François Castellan au 2e voyage qu’elle va Dieu aidant faire à Cayenne en 1770.

Marseille, April 9 1770.

Folio (22 x 35 cm), [13, 7 blank] pp. Manuscript in ink and ruled in pencil on paper.

Stitched.

Two official French manuscripts documenting the full outfitting and provisioning of the corvette La Cipris in preparation for two voyages from Marseille to Cayenne (French Guiana) in 1768 and 1770, both under the command of Captain Jean-François Castellan. These records provide a detailed look at the financial, material, and human infrastructure that underpinned French colonial navigation and the Atlantic Triangular Trade.

The 1768 manuscript, titled Compte Général du Corps agencé, Apparaux, Armement et Avitaillement, itemizes every aspect of the ship’s readiness for departure, including rigging, munitions, food supplies, maintenance, port fees, and labor—particularly the wages of sailors and artisans. It concludes with a formal affirmation of accuracy, signed in Marseille on May 14, 1768 by Captain Castellan and other parties. The structure and timing indicate this was a pre-departure financial account, retained by the armateur or port authorities rather than brought aboard.

The 1770 manuscript is a parallel document for La Cipris’s second voyage to Cayenne. Titled Compte Général des Aggres, Apparaux, Armement et Avitaillement, it details the full costs of labor (including carpenters, caulkers, and sailmakers), provisioning, tools, armament, and ship maintenance. It concludes with a meticulous “recapitulation” totaling 38,841 livres, 17 sols, 8 deniers, and is signed in Marseille on April 9, 1770 by Captain Castellan, Lieutenant Arbaud, and the Marseille shipowner Aillaud de Montmartin. Like the earlier volume, this manuscript was completed prior to the ship’s departure and likely stayed ashore as part of the official accounting records.

The manuscript documents provide extraordinary insight into the logistics, economics, and bureaucratic formalities of colonial-era maritime expeditions. Their precise organization and formal sign-off also reflect the professionalization of naval commerce during a period of France’s renewed colonial activity following the Seven Years’ War.

Provenance: Both manuscripts derive from the archives of the Ailhaud (or Aillaud) de Montmartin family, a prominent Provençal lineage of merchants, shipowners, and administrators active in Marseille and Aix-en-Provence. The family conducted extensive trade with Saint-Domingue, Martinique, Cap-Français, Cyprus, and Cayenne, and is particularly noted for its role in the international distribution of the Ailhaud purgative, a widely marketed 18th-century medicinal product.

Condition: 1768: minor foxing on front cover, 1770: covers slightly stained and discoloured. Otherwise both in very fine condition.