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and Wang, 1989.
MIOT, PAUL-EMILE (1827–1900)
French photographer and hydrographer
The French photographer and naval offi cer Paul-Emile
Miot produced some of the earliest known photographs
of the east coast of Canada and Newfoundland. His
photographs present a remarkable early picture of this
coastline and its peoples, particularly because a career
naval offi cer took them during offi cial missions, and
without compromising his successful naval career. But
more importantly, his use of photography as an aid to
the work of the mapmaker is an important application
of the medium, and one which is still used extensively
today.
Miot was born in Trinidad to a French father and a
West Indian mother, and the family returned to Paris
while he was still quite young. Intent on a career at sea,
he entered the Naval Academy in Paris in 1843, and
emerged in 1849 with the rank of sub-Lieutenant.
He fi rst served on the Sibylle, being given the com-
mand of the merchant ship Ceres in 1849, and survived
an epidemic of yellow fever which killed two thirds
of his crew. From the autumn of 1855, until hostilities
ceased in the spring of the following year, he served as
an offi cer with the French naval fl eet based at Kamiesch
during the Crimean War
There exists in the archives of the Bibliotheque
nationale a remarkable series of photographs of the
French fl eet taken at Kamiesch by Jean-Baptiste-Henri
Durand-Brager and Pierre Lassimonne, dating for the
period of Miot’s service there, and some researchers
have suggested, as yet without corroboration, that Miot’s
interest in photography may date from that time and a
possible encounter with those two photographers. He
started to experiment with the camera early the follow-
ing year while on leave from the navy.
It is also suggested by several sources, that during
that same commission, Miot, still a sub lieutenant, met
Lieutenant (and later Admiral) Georges-Charles Cloué,
who would play a pivotal role in the development of his
naval career thereafter.
By the following year, 1857, Miot was demonstrating
his photographic accomplishments, sailing with Cloué
for the fi rst time, and now promoted to full lieutenant.
That voyage, to Newfoundland on board the Ardent
resulted in his earliest known photographs, which were
met with some acclaim back in Paris, and used as the
basis for line illustrations in le Monde Illustré.
In a letter preserved in Archives nationals in Paris,
dated September 27, 1857, Cloué describes the im-
portance of Miot’s photography in assisting with their
hydrographic and mapping mission.
One of the offi cers of the Ardent , Lieutenant Miot,
took up photography during his last period of leave.
He is remarkably successful, Commodore, as you
have been able to see for yourself. I have given
some thought to utilizing this new science, which,
until now, might have appeared to have no more than an
artistic value, for our precision work, and I believe that,
thanks to the ability and the intelligence of Mr. Miot, I
have achieved results that give extremely high hopes for
the future.
Theodolite readings taken from the main points of
triangulation require a certain experience of drawing to
produce the views, which, with the aid of the angles that
are included in them, are invaluable in later recreating
the contours of the coast and the main features of the
terrain.
Henceforth, a few angles taken with the theodolite
will suffi ce, and the readings will be complemented by
a photographic view on which the angles need not be
calculated until the moment when the map is drawn.
I have had Mr. Miot take several of these views, taking
care that the focal point of the instrument’s lens is in the
same position for each of the views, so that the horizontal
distances on the print always represent the same number
of degrees in the angle.
When taking measurements from the photographic
views, with a graduated metal ruler, of the distances that
separate the verticals drawn from various readings, I have
frequently obtained accuracy to within one minute com-
pared to the angles provided by theodolite readings.Miot had taken his own camera and equipment on
the voyage, although Cloué did arrange for a ‘small,
suitably-equipped photographic laboratory’ to be es-
tablished for him onboard the Ardent. It is clear that
Cloué saw this work as a partnership between Miot and
himself—photographer and chart maker—admitting
to have no photographic knowledge himself, and to be
entirely dependant upon Miot’s expertise.
Further voyages to Newfoundland saw Miot’s photo-
graphic productions as more and more closely integrated
with the survey itself—but not exclusively so—and by
1860 he and his work had achieved offi cial recognition,
with photographic facilities established at the Dépot
des cartes et plans. When the Ardent got trapped in ice,
Miot carried his camera on to the ice-fl ow, and produced
some magnifi cent studies that rival the best Arctic
pictures of the nineteenth century. During stopovers in
the French islands of Saint-Pierre-et-Michelon (today