Fr. Désiré Maigret lands at Madolenihmw, burying Fr. Bachelot, who died at sea, in the first Catholic mission attempt.

What happened

The French priest Désiré Maigret sailed from Honolulu on the schooner Notre-Dame de Paix with Fr. Alexis Bachelot, who died at sea on 5 December, and with two Hawaiians and two Mangarevans. Bachelot was buried ashore on 14 December (on Nah island, the MicSem ship list says), and within a week Maigret was sleeping in a hut the local king had built for him.

Why it matters

Maigret was the first missionary on Pohnpei, fifteen years before the Protestant mission arrived.