Records of these early schools are scarce – but Doublet’s detailed account of his time in Denys’s classes offers a rare glimpse into the technical education that early modern European sailors might have received.ĭuring the 16th to 18th centuries, Europeans embarked on thousands of long-distance sea voyages around the world. Clearly, in the late-17th century, even knowledgeable sailors sought out more education. It might seem surprising that Doublet felt that teaching navigation was on a par with privateering, which was essentially legal piracy, with handsome prize money. He never ended up teaching – he would spend the next three decades traversing the Atlantic and hobnobbing with famous admirals before, as a retirement project, writing his memoir. For Doublet, it was important to have a backup career plan. In his memoir, Doublet explains a practical motive too: if he got injured again, he would retire and open his own sailing school.īold adventurers had a chance to enjoy considerable profits at sea in the early modern period (the 16th to 18th centuries) but they also risked their lives on every voyage. Doublet was keen to learn some more advanced techniques from the teacher, Abbé Guillaume Denys. Why would he bother paying for lessons? The school in Dieppe – the Royal School of Hydrography – was renowned for the calibre of its lectures, attracting passing tourists as well as naval trainees. This might seem a strange decision Doublet, who had gone to sea at the age of seven, already knew the ins and outs of navigation. How did the precocious young second lieutenant choose to spend his convalescence? Doublet repaired to the French port city of Dieppe, where he signed up for three months of navigation lessons. In 1673, in a North Sea skirmish that killed nearly 150 men, the French privateer Jean-François Doublet took a bullet that tossed him from the forecastle and broke his arm in two places.