Jean Baptiste Henri Savigny, born on April 10, 1793, died on January 27, 1843, was a surgeon and doctor aboard the Medusa. When the ship sank (July 2, 1816), he was one of three officers who volunteered to take a place on the raft among 152 shipwrecked people. He is one of the 15 survivors and testifies in a report to the Ministry of the Navy about the atrocities committed during the drifting of the raft, including acts of anthropophagy. He explains the details of the tragedy to G ricault, before he paints his famous Raft of the Medusa.
