During 1898-1899 machinery repairs, Sfax's military masts were replaced by pole masts before she joined the North American Squadron with the unprotected cruiser Dubourdieu. The assignment kept the refurbished cruiser in overseas service near the end of her career. Her best-known mission was carrying Alfred Dreyfus from imprisonment on Devil's Island in French Guiana back to France. That voyage connects a conventional refit and foreign-station history to the Dreyfus Affair and the French penal-colony system.
Chapter · 35:39-36:53
Sfax's late refit and the Dreyfus mission
Follow Sfax through machinery repairs, mast changes, North American Squadron service, and her famous role carrying Alfred Dreyfus home from Devil's Island.