Who is Monsieur Jean Dutourd from The Wine-dark Sea and what is their importance? The_Wine-Dark_Sea English & Literature Monsieur Jean Dutourd | The Wine-dark Sea

Maturin describes Dutourd as a "Frenchman with enthusiastic visionary notions about an ideal community...[with] no Church, no King, no laws, no money, everything held in common, perfect peace and justice". Unfortuately, this description is based upon Dutourd's wholesale slaughter of the natives residing on the island of Moahu. His attempts to conquer the island, however, were stymied by Aubrey's intervention. Franklin fled the island, pursued by Surprise, and is captured during the volcanic disturbance described in the early novel. Aubrey notes that, legally, Dutourd is nothing better than a pirate, as he carries no commission nor letter of marque. In the end, Maturin's associates denounce Dutourd to the Spanish Inquisition, and although, we are unaware of the outcome, we can infer that the results were fatal.