Peter Bacos: Marion Dufresne at the Bay of Islands 25 March – 12 June 1772

Marc-Joseph Marion Dufresne was baptised at St Malo, Brittany, 24 May 1724. He belonged to the upper bourgeoisie, and although he did not belong to the nobility by birth, by being appointed a Chevalier of the Order of St Louis later in life he acceded to it by military title. He added a territorial designation to his name, from the village in Brittany where his ancestors came from, Le Fresne, but this is not his surname which is Marion, and we will refer to him as such throughout this essay. 

He joined the merchant navy and went to see in 1741. In effect he was a corsair during the War of the Austrian Succession which put France at loggerheads with England. Ships lay in wait around the coast of Brittany and especially the narrow inlets of the Channel Islands to pounce on British ships returning from the West Indies or West Africa laden with precious metals, white wine, oranges, lemons, corn, and rye. Many of these hauls supplied all of France in foodstuffs and were lucrative for the mariners involved.