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MERMOZ Jean 4 letters ‘Mermoz’ (one) and ‘Ton Jean’, Casablanca, November–December 1926, to his ‘Beloved Mum’; 9 pages, in-4, in blue ink (one edge slightly torn on the 3rd page). Concerning the massacre of his comrades Henri Érable and Eugène Gourp by the Moors. 20 November: ‘We’re having little luck in Dakar at the moment. We’ve lost two good comrades. After their plane broke down, they came across about ten Moorish marauders who shot them down before they could climb into the second aircraft that had just landed to pick them up and which, in turn, remained stranded there. Setting off with my co-pilot [Éloi Ville] to search for them a few hours later, he too suffered engine failure 30 km from where the other two had been. I managed to land quickly and rescue him right under the noses of the Moors who were closing in. Two days later, another comrade suffered engine failure… Pursued by the Moors, he fortunately managed to reach the second aircraft, which had landed two kilometres away, and return to Juby. So it’s quite an adventure at the moment. But don’t worry. As luck would have it, all the breakdowns happened in the same spot where there were Moorish bandits, who, now being hunted down by the others, are fleeing at full speed into the interior, where we never go’…. 3 December. He returns to ‘the murder of our two comrades from Dakar […] On the same day, having set off in search of them in the south with my team-mate Ville – and with Ville himself having broken down in turn 10 km from where the other two were – I managed to land not far from him and take him right under the noses of the Moors who were closing in. Gourp was handed over to us in Juby in exchange for 5,000 pesetas; he had a horrific wound to his left thigh and his leg was gangrenous up to the knee after spending 10 days tied to a camel; we went to fetch him by aeroplane 80 km from Juby, where he was on the verge of death. He’s doing better now; we think we’ll be able to save his leg, and he was naturally awarded the Legion of Honour yesterday. The other two remained 50 metres from the burnt-out aircraft; I asked the Spanish governor of Juby to go and fetch them with a taxi and a Moor in our pay, but he refused, claiming it would be a pointless folly; so, unfortunately, their final resting place at present is nothing other than the bellies of the hyenas and jackals that abound in this region. There or elsewhere!! […] They had the misfortune of coming across marauding bandits who had just carried out a raid in the Port-Étienne area. Had it not been for that, I have no doubt they would have returned just as we did... But we all have our own destinies. What if I told you that I was the one who was supposed to travel back with that post on the Gourp! Érable was due to come to Casablanca in my place, as he had some suits to be made, whilst I was due to go down to Dakar. I would have travelled back on that very post! When we arrived in Juby, he asked me to postpone this plan until next time. That saved me. You see, when it’s meant to be!... Ville, my team-mate, who has a price on his head, and Lassalle, the Dakar driver, are pulling out of the race. Guillaumet – you know, the one who was supposed to do the rally with me – is off to Dakar. As for me, I’m carrying on until February or March, partly out of a sense of fatalism and partly because, by then, the American route will be about to open and I’ve been picked as one of the first to go there. Otherwise, I’ll be leaving the company for good around that time. I never stop. We’re short of pilots – or rather, good pilots. When I get back from Juby or Dakar, I dash off to Spain or Toulouse. I spend about five days a month in Casablanca. […] I’m holding on and hope to keep going for a long time, because, you know, I feel more like a migratory bird than ever before’... 18 December. “I can’t believe I’m already twenty-five, and yet I feel myself growing older, growing older… how short life is!… We don’t have much time to be truly young!… Tomorrow, I’m off to Juby again. I’ll be back, at least I hope so, on Christmas Eve”… 31 December. “I got back from Juby yesterday morning, a bit too late for my New Year’s wishes to reach you tomorrow. But you know full well that on that day I’ll be with you in spirit, and the wishes I send you with all my heart are simply an expression of the deep affection I feel for you. […] I came back on the 24th, Christmas Eve; we had Christmas Eve dinner with some friends. It wasn’t anything special, mind you. I didn’t leave again until Monday. […] I took a minister from Bolivia (South America) to Dakar. Having read about me in the newspapers, he offered me the chance to go to Bolivia as both a flight instructor and an airline pilot. I could earn 5,000 to 6,000 pesos a month, which, at the current exchange rate, is about 120,000 francs!! He’ll be returning from Spanish Guinea in about twenty days and told me that, if I decided to go ahead, I should submit a formal application to him. He’ll write to me again to let me know the duration of the contract and the benefits. If it’s worthwhile, I’d set off in the spring, after taking some holiday, of course. It would be a great opportunity and I’d be able to put a fair bit aside’... Correspondence, nos. 98, 99, 100 and 101. Source: - Jean Mermoz (1901–1936); - Gabrielle Gillet-Mermoz (1880–1955); - Passed down through the family
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Auction time 11/03/2026 at 11:00 AM
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