Surprise

A French gunboat that was torpedoed by a German submarine in the harbour of Funchal on 3 December 1916, with the loss of 33 of her crew and 7 Portuguese, as related on page 159 of volume I of this work. When writing of General Mangin, we had occasion to say that the mortal remains of the French sailors that lay in the Angústias (‘sorrows’) cemetery had been transferred on board the cruiser Jules Michelet on 28 November 1921. We must now add that a large procession was formed on that occasion, which accompanied the remains as far as the Pontinha (‘little point’).

The procession, which was about a kilometre long, was headed by a mounted detachment of the Republican Guard (Guarda Republicana). Behind it came the children of the schools and colleges with their teachers, the primary teaching body, the Funchal student body with its processional banner, the Banda Republicana Artístico Madeirense, the teachers of the lyceum (state secondary school), the scouts, chauffeurs, sports associations, the Banda dos Artistas Funchalenses, the firemen, various associations, the Red Cross (Cruz Vermelha), the crew of the Funchal lifeboat, the civil police and the Revenue Guard (Guarda Fiscal, customs and excise corps), the staff of the Harbour Master’s Office (Capitania do Porto), the junior staff of the customs house, the army sergeants, the ‘Grémio 5 de Outubro’, the English telegraph employees, the Commercial Association, the Press, the customs house officials, the District General Council (Junta Geral), the clergy, the Sisters of Charity, the doctors, the judiciary, the Municipal Council (Câmara Municipal), a naval contingent from the French cruiser Cassiopée, several English officers who had fought in the Great War, the officers of the garrison, three limbers bearing wreaths flanked by French sailors, two limbers carrying the coffins flanked by French petty officers, the French officers of the ships lying in the harbour, General Mangin, the civil governor, the secretary-general and the military governor, the diocesan prelate, Admiral Pugliesi-Conti, the consular corps, the brass band of the cruiser Jules Michelet, a naval detachment from the same ship, a detachment of the 27th Infantry with its band, and an infantry platoon of the Republican Guard.

Before the procession set off, speeches were made by Dr José Joaquim Teixeira Jardim, president of the Council, the consul of France, the military commander João Maria Ferraz, Major Artur Sarmento, the student José Duarte Soares, Admiral Conti and the harbour master Romano Vital Gomes. At the end of the speeches the band of the Jules Michelet played first A Portuguesa and then the Marseillaise.

The chapel of the Angústias cemetery, where the ten chestnut coffins holding the remains of the sailors of the Surprise lay, was draped in crape and brilliantly decorated with ferns and other plants. At the top of the façade hung the French flag, and below it the letters R. F. intertwined in red. Two lifebuoys hung on the walls, bearing the inscription: Surprise–3–12–916.

In the same chapel the diocesan prelate, Dom António Manuel Pereira Ribeiro, celebrated a mass attended by the senior authorities of the district, General Mangin, Admiral Conti, the officers of the Madeira military garrison, and the officers and sailors of the cruisers Jules Michelet and Cassiopée. During the ceremony the band of the first of these ships played Chopin’s funeral march, while a detachment of French sailors formed the guard of honour at the chapel door. The guard of honour at the cemetery gate was formed by an infantry detachment, with its band, and by another from the Republican Guard.

The 10 coffins with the mortal remains of the French sailors were carried to a launch of the Jules Michelet, while both the ship’s band and the band of the 27th Infantry Regiment (infantaria n.° 27) played the Marseillaise. General Mangin, Admiral Conti and other officers of the French navy boarded the same launch, and the Fort of São Tiago (St James the Greater) fired a salute.

At the moment of farewell, General Mangin and Admiral Conti once again expressed their gratitude to the civil, ecclesiastical and military authorities for the part they had taken in the tributes paid to the sailors of the Surprise.

The Jules Michelet, which carried the coffins with the remains of the French sailors, left the harbour of Funchal bound for Brest at half past seven in the evening of the said day, 28 November.

On 3 December 1921, five days after the tributes paid to the French sailors, the remains of the Madeirans killed in the torpedoing of the gunboat Surprise were borne to the tomb-monument that the wealthy banker Henrique Vieira de Castro had had built in the Angústias cemetery. These remains, kept in three urns, lay in the cemetery chapel, where at half past nine in the morning the diocesan prelate celebrated Mass, followed by the ritual absolution and the blessing of the grave. The decorations used for the tributes to the French sailors could still be seen in the chapel and along the cemetery avenue.

Speeches were made by the president of the Council, Dr Teixeira Jardim, Major Alberto Artur Sarmento and Commander Vital Gomes, after which the urns were carried to the monument and placed there. The Artistas band played A Portuguesa after each of the speeches delivered in the cemetery, and the national anthem was heard again, played by the same band and by that of the 27th Infantry Regiment (regimento de infantaria 27), as the urns were lowered into the tomb. At this solemn moment a detachment of infantry and another of the Republican Guard gave the military salute.

Throughout the day public buildings and consulates kept their flags at half-mast, and many shops half-closed their doors, shutting them completely while the ceremonies lasted. The same had been done during the ceremonies of 28 November, and it may be said without fear of contradiction that Madeira paid a fitting tribute both to the French and to the Portuguese who were treacherously killed in Funchal harbour on the morning of 3 December 1916. See Bombardment of Funchal, Angústias (cemetery) and Mangin (General).

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