Mage published the first detailed description of the Toucouleur Empire created by El Hadj Umar Tall.

Two years later, at the age of 15, he was assigned to the frigate La Forte and in December 1852 set sail for Callao in Peru, stopping at Tenerife, Rio de Janeiro, Cape Horn and Valparaiso.

[2] Mage lived as adjudicator of the General Louis Faidherbe since 1858 in West Africa (in modern Senegal).

On 19 December 1869, while attempting to round the Brittany peninsula, the ship was wrecked on the Pierres Noires rocks, south of Ushant.

[3] By their astronomical navigation and close attention to cartography Mage and Quintin are responsible for the first detailed map of western Sudan.