DURAND DE LA GARENNE (first name unknown), writer in the Marine, judge of the admiralty court at Placentia (Plaisance); d. 12 Oct. 1715.

An employee at the port of Rochefort in 1691, Durand came to Placentia in 1699, as a writer in the Marine. The following year the king entrusted him to act as commissary, and he became sub-delegate of the intendant of Quebec in 1701. His many duties included looking after troops, supplies, and fortifications; he thus came into conflict with Joseph de Monic, whose ill-will he had to endure. He got on better with Auger de Subercase, and went through the St John’s campaign with him (1705). He went to France the following year and returned in 1707, having been appointed judge of the admiralty court. In 1710 he took a census of the settlers at Plaisance and in the neighbouring district. The next year he proposed that the settlers of Newfoundland and of the island of Saint-Pierre be transported to Île Royale (Cape Breton Island).

Like all the officers at Placentia, he went in for fishing on his own account, and in 1711 he contributed to the fitting out of a privateer. This ship was captured as it left the port, and Durand had to share in paying the captain’s ransom. This mishap seems to have upset his business, for in succeeding years we find him being prosecuted for debts, and he owed money to the treasurer of the Marine. After the treaty of Utrecht he was given the task, with Pastour de Costebelle, of preparing the evacuation of Placentia. But his accounts were in utter confusion. He was also accused of misappropriating and selling articles coming from the capture of St John’s in 1709. Instead of going to Île Royale, however, La Garenne slipped away to Saint-Domingue, where his brother, Durand de Beauval, was a receiving agent. He died there, opportunely, on 12 Oct. 1715, leaving the clerks of the Marine with the responsibility for liquidating the accounts of the lost colony. The French national archives contain a good number of his letters and reports on the business affairs of Placentia during the 15 years that he was employed there.

René  Baudry