Up Close … with Edmond Mussard |08 May 2018

‘The most important thing in life is to get back up after falling down’

Still without an airstrip to date, La Digue has always relied on its home-built schooners and the know-how of its dedicated skippers and seaman for essential daily supply trips, as well as for transportation outside the island.

In an era where motorboats and landing crafts are taking over, La Digue, an island with a strong boat building reputation, will always remain an icon and living archive of real seamanship and craftsmanship.

Reminiscing, one can never forget the days of schooner Aroa, later changed to La Belle Edma which was skippered by its owner Edmond Mussard, affectionately known as ‘Pti Edmond’.

Songs from famous Diguois artists Despilly William (Roule La Belle Edma) and Sonny Morgan (Me pa Aroa) bear testimony to the services rendered by the schooners.

Strange enough, Pti Edmond, now retired, has chosen Mahe as his place of retreat, instead of his beloved La Digue. Spotted sitting under his verandah in a quiet location at Anse Etoile, the charismatic figure willingly agreed to share some of his life’s moments with me.

The Aroa era

Born in October 1947, Pti Edmond did not start directly with boats and the sea as would all great seafarers. Initially a school teacher from 1963-1980, and also a musician, he switched trade to take over his father’s 36-year-old boat - Aroa - in January 1981.

A boat bought from Roger Mellon, who was an ex-soldier in the British army. According to Pti Edmond, the name Aroa comes from the word Aloha, meaning welcome.

A number of captains like Gerard Moustache, Flavien Renaud, Alvis Colie, Rolly Saminadin and Berty Hoareau have played a role to mould Pti Edmond into the seafarer he is today.

He worked on Aroa from 1981 to 1987 when the boat was overhauled completely due to old age. Only the keel was retained and a new boat was built.

La Belle Edma

In 1987, La Belle Edma was born. Edma is a combination of his fist name Edmond and that of his wife Marie-Therese and it is also his grandmother’s name.

One of his dreams was to navigate the outer islands and La Belle Edma gave him that opportunity right from the beginning.

For two years, between 1987 and 1988, he was offered some trips by the Island Development Company (IDC) to supply the outer islands. This gave Pti Edmond the chance to visit islands like Aldabra, Assomption, Providence, Farquhar, Astove, Cosmoledo among others.

La Belle Edma was also involved in various projects, especially the introduction of electricity on La Digue. Pti Edmond was responsible to carry all the electrical cables and poles for the project.

A tough job, as everything was done manually, since there was no crane on La Belle Edma and also on the La Digue jetty.

In 2001, there was a demand for more beers on La Digue and Pti Edmond felt that he needed a bigger boat to meet the demand. He bought a new boat and transformed it into a cargo craft.

Compared to La Belle Edma’s 35-ton capacity, the new boat, baptised Dauphin Noir could carry up to 80 tons.

La Belle Edma was sidelined due to a lack of crew, with the hope of a re-launch as the new boat took over.

Little did Pti Edmond know that La Belle Edma would never touch the sea ever again.

Disaster struck

While on the dry dock for maintenance in 2012, Dauphin Noir sunk mysteriously, an incident which Pti Edmond has described as “a malicious act”.

The incident also caused him to lose everything he ever worked for, as he had invested everything in Dauphin Noir.

Following the incident Pti Edmond suffered a stroke, which he said was stress related due to the incident.

He then found himself in debt as the bank was still pushing to get its money back. Even if he came up with several propositions to ease his loan payment, the bank insisted that he pay in full, including the arears and surcharge.

A situation which was not pleasant at all, worsening his illness and giving a definite red light to his career at sea.

Retiring on Mahe, instead of La Digue

Following the illness, Pti Edmond had to sell his property on La Digue to repay the bank for his outstanding loans.

He and his wife then moved to France for a while, before coming back to settle down in the district of Anse Etoile.

Despite all life’s difficulties, Pti Edmond always carries a smile and is always positive about life.

Even if he felt mistreated after his long time contribution, especially to his beloved La Digue, Pti Edmond is always ready to give good advice, especially to the younger generation.

“We all fall down at one point or another in life, but the important thing remains how we get back up,” was his conclusion to our small meeting.

By Roland Duval