The hydrographical work of Charles Boullanger and Pierre Faure, engineer-geographers of the Baudin expedition
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En Introduction
1In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, several maritime voyages sponsored by French State institutions were sent to the southern seas. This paper focuses mainly, albeit not exclusively, on one, the expedition commanded by Nicolas Thomas Baudin (1800-1804) with the Navy corvettes the Géographe and the Naturaliste which was captained by Jacques Félix Emmanuel Hamelin (1768 –1839). The paper examines the hydrographical work performed by the expedition’s two engineer-geographers, Charles Pierre Boullanger (1772-1813), Pierre Ange François Xavier Faure (1777-1855) and the naval officer Louis Claude de Saulces de Freycinet (1779-1842) who later would edit the historical and geographical atlases of the expedition that included the first published map of Australia as an island continent entitled Carte Générale de la Nouvelle Hollande.
2The Baudin expedition was a voyage of discovery in the wake of the Cook and La Pérouse voyages but restricted to Terres Australes (Australia). Boullanger and Faure were part of the team of scientists selected for the voyage. Boullanger was the chief expedition engineergeographer on board the Géographe and Faure the engineer-geographer on board the Naturaliste while Freycinet began the voyage as a 21 year old Navy officer on the Naturaliste with the comparatively low rank of sub-lieutenant (enseigne de vaisseau). In the course of the voyage, he was promoted to acting commander of the schooner the Casuarina that Baudin purchased at Port Jackson to allow the geographers to get closer to the coasts.
3The voyage surveyed large sections of the Australian coast either unknown, or little known to Europe. It extended, to some extent, the work done during the voyage in search of La Pérouse by Rear Admiral Antoine Bruny d’Entrecasteaux (1791-1793). During that voyage, the engineer-hydrographer Charles-François Beautemps-Beaupré surveyed some sections of the Southwest coast of New Holland (Australia) and of the east coast of Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania).
- 1 Fornasiero, J & West-Sooby, J 2011, ‘Naming and Shaming: The Baudin Expedition and the Nomenclature (...)
- 2 Chappey, J-L 2010, ‘Le capitaine Baudin et la Société des observateurs de l’homme. Questions autour (...)
4Researchers have shown that the work achieved by the Baudin expedition has been until recently overlooked or undermined because of the individual dissensions and animosities among the crew that compromised the steady progress of the voyage1 Other researchers have highlighted the role of the ideological and conceptual upheavals in French cultural institutions to explain the difficulties that the expedition encountered in promoting its achievements2.
5The paper takes a slightly different tack. It focuses on the primary hydrographical mission of the voyage as set out in Baudin’s instructions:
- 3 Baudin, N 1974, The journal of Post Captain Nicolas Baudin, Commander-inChief of the Corvettes Géog (...)
The AIM of the Government… has been to have examined in detail the southwest, west, northwest and north coasts of New Holland, some of which are still entirely unknown… to determine precisely the geographical position of the principal points along the coasts that he [Citizen Baudin] will visit and chart them exactly…3.
6The paper concentrates on Boullanger, Faure and Freycinet’s hydrographic work and investigates Louis Freycinet’s present reputation as the cartographer of the voyage and shows that it was a position achieved by a combination of circumstances.
7To begin this task, the different phases of the voyage are explained within the succession of different political regimes in France: first, the initial training and selection of Boullanger, Faure and Freycinet, secondly, their surveying work during the voyage, thirdly, the construction of the fair charts and lastly the publication in the atlas of the voyage.
- 4 18 Brumaire: 9 November 1799.
8Initial ideas for Baudin’s project were first discussed during the period of the Directoire (1795-1799) that followed the upheavals of the French Revolution with the fall and death of Louis XVI, the establishment of the First Republic (1792) and the regime of Terror (1793-1794). This tumultuous period in French history was a time of reconstruction with new or restructured academic and scientific institutions that insisted on having input in preparing the voyage and trained a number of the scientists chosen as its expeditioners. The departure of the two corvettes from Le Havre (October 1800) and the course of the voyage took place during the Consulate (1799-1804), when Napoleon Bonaparte came to power after his return from the Campaign of Egypt and his coup4. Shortly after the return of the Géographe to France (March 1804), the political regime changed again with the proclamation of the French Empire (The Napoleonic Empire) that existed until the restoration of the monarchy with the First Restoration in 1814, then the Second Restoration in 1815 after the Napoleonic episode of the Hundred Days.
- 5 Letter reproduced on microfilm in the State Library of South Australia, ARG Serie 1, reel 29. Origi (...)
- 6 Two atlas were edited by Freycinet: an historical atlas published in 1811, and a geographical atlas (...)
9This unstable, restless and eventful period meant that Boullanger, Faure and, chiefly, Freycinet had to adapt their careers and the objectives of their work to this succession of political regimes with their successive authorities and Navy ministers. It had an impact also on the publication of the atlases and the various narratives of the voyage, with some volumes postponed until the collapse of the Napoleonic Empire while most of their editing work was done in honour of the Empire during its high point. The ‘historical’ (in the sense of natural history) narration of the voyage was entrusted to the zoologist of the expedition, François Péron, and the nautical and geographical part, including the atlas, to Freycinet. After the death of Péron in 1810, Freycinet was entrusted also with the responsibility of the entire editing work. Péron had completed the first volume of the Voyage de découvertes aux Terres australes in 1807 and Freycinet completed the first edition of the Historical Atlas in 1811. Then, Freycinet completed the nautical and geographical narrative and atlas of the voyage in 1812, but these later works did not appear until 1815. The second volume of the historical narrative edited by Freycinet was published in 1816 ‘by order of His Majesty the Emperor and the King’. By this time, Napoléon was in exile on the island of St Helena and Louis XVIII, the brother of Louis XVI, was King of France. Freycinet mentioned also in a letter addressed in June 1816 to the Navy Minister regarding the history of the voyage that he ‘just completed the engraving and printing of an atlas of 14 charts’5. The letter does not detail which charts Freycinet was referring to but most likely these charts became part of the 1824 second edition of the historical atlas, which, pointedly, was not published under the name of Freycinet, but of the two artists of the expedition, Lesueur and Petit6.
- 7 The Uranie was replaced in the course of the voyage by the Physicienne, after the wreck of the form (...)
10To explore the hydrographical and cartographical work of Boullanger, Faure and Freycinet in detail, the first part of this paper considers the surveying and charting methods they used and shows their affiliation with the methods developed by Beautemps-Beaupré that inaugurated a new French hydrographical age. The second part shows that the hydrographical and cartographical work of the expedition was overshadowed by other voyages such as those by d’Entrecasteaux and Humboldt (1799-1804) and that the publications directed by the geographer of the Bonaparte’s Egyptian Campaign (1798-1801) were more engaging the French public than Freycinet’s publications. The third part looks at the responsibility for the hydrographical work of the voyage and the working relationships between the engineer-geographers and Freycinet and other officers of the voyage. Two particular questions arise from this exploration, first, why was the atlas of the Baudin expedition not edited, as was the 1808 atlas of the d’Entrecasteaux expedition, by the chief ‘engineer-geographer’, Boullanger, but the naval officer Louis Freycinet? Second, why, after the publication of the atlas of the Baudin expedition didn’t Freycinet take any engineer-geographers to undertake the hydrographical work on board his own voyage around the world on the Uranie (1817-1820)?7
Boullanger, Faure and Freycinet and the progress of hydrographical sciences in a period of institutional re-organization
- 8 The commission was composed with Fleurieu (then member of the Council of State), the navigator Anto (...)
- 9 Faure’s nomination was in replacement of a polytechnic classmate called JacquesJoseph Caunes.
- 10 Boullanger was from the graduating class of 18 mars 1795, Faure 13 Janvier 1796. There were three o (...)
11The selection of Baudin’s engineer-geographers and scientists reflects the changes and re-organization of French science and knowledge following the French Revolution. New institutions, with recruitment based on competence and knowledge were created. Boullanger and Faure were chosen from one of them, the École Polytechnique, by the mineralogist Lelièvre, a member of the commission in charge of the preparation of the voyage and the selection of its men of science8. Lelièvre was also a member of the school committee that was working on the development of the École Polytechnique programs so had an interest in promoting its work9. Students of the Ecole Polytechnique were selected through a high entry level examination process, based on the candidates’ mathematical ability. Boullanger gained entry in 1795 and Faure in 179610. The mission of the École Polytechnique was to educate the new elite engineers, who were trained in geometry and trigonometry, physics and chemistry, with lectures given by renowned mathematicians such as Gaspard Monge, Jean-Antoine Chaptal, Joseph-Louis Lagrange or Gaspard de Prony, and the chemist Claude-Louis Bertholet. After the two first years, students were selected through another examination to specialize in one of the five applied schools. Boullanger and Faure entered the applied school which trained ‘ingénieurs-géographes’.
12In addition to this training, it should be noted that Boullanger gained some experience of the sea as an officer cadet in Saint Domingue in 1792 but resigned from the Navy. Faure on the other hand had no nautical experience and was not used to the rigours it presented. This is highlighted by the commander of the Naturaliste, Hamelin, in his journal: After he sent Faure on a mission in Rottnest Island in June 1801, he wrote:
- 11 Hamelin, sea journal, 30 prairial -1 messidor an 9e [19-20 June 1801]. Original held in the Archive (...)
I summoned citizen Freycinet to send me back citizen Faure, the engineer-geographer, as soon as possible as he is not entirely familiar with spending such bad nights under the stars at a time of rain11.
- 12 The geographer Buache was Beautemps-Beaupré’s cousin.
- 13 Chapuis, O 1999, À la mer comme au ciel Beautemps-Beaupré & la naissance de l’hydrographie moderne (...)
13Boullanger and Faure’s surveying and mapping training were different from that of Beautemps-Beaupré. The latter received his tuition at the Dépôt des cartes et plans de la Marine, the French hydrographical institution (today the SHOM) gathering, assessing, compiling and reproducing charts and nautical documents in the service of the French Navy, under the supervision of renowned geographers such as Jean Nicolas Buache and Navy experts12. Beautemps-Beaupré was working on the selection and reproduction of the cartographical documents to be taken on board the d’Entrecasteaux expedition when he learned from the Navy Minister Antoine Jean Marie Thévenard that he was selected to become the “ingénieur-géographe” of the expedition13.
14Beautemps-Beaupré’s nomination was supported by the Navy officer, hydrographer and former Navy minister, Charles-Pierre Claret de Fleurieu, who wrote the geographical instructions for the voyages of La Pérouse, d’Entrecasteaux and Baudin.
- 14 Jangoux, Le voyage aux Terres australes du commandant Nicolas Baudin: Genèse et préambule (1798-180 (...)
- 15 Hamelin, sea journal, 23-24 brumaire an 9e.
15For his own part, Louis-Claude Freycinet received a military training in the French Navy when he joined in 1794. Within a short time, he experienced action in the Mediterranean Sea when he participated in the Admiral Bruix campaign of 179514. The Baudin expedition was seen by Freycinet and his fellow officers as an exceptional opportunity to develop their careers in the Navy. It is unlikely that before the voyage Freycinet had much experience in hydrographical exploration work and probably learnt much of the theory from Boullanger and Faure during the trip. We know that Hamelin organized the officers and men of science to give lessons on board in their area of expertise to instruct the midshipmen and crew15. Faure, for example, gave a series of lectures on mathematics. (See the beginning of his 20th lesson, figure 1)
Figure 1. Faure’s 20th lesson of mathematics, entitled “détermination du rapport entre la perpendiculaire à la méridienne sur le sphéroïde et la perpendiculaire sur la sphère inscrite.

- 16 http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-230974066/view
Source: ANF Marine 5JJ-53,reproduced on microfilm in the State Library of South Australia, ARG Series 1, reel16.
The running survey
16Boullanger and Faure’s hydrographical method for mapping a coastline comprised a running survey. This was the method used by Beautemps-Beaupré and British navigators James Cook and Matthew Flinders during their respective voyages. One difference was that for their astronomical measurements the French used a reflecting circle refined by Jean-Charles de Borda to measure angles, while the British preferred a sextant.
Figure 2. Coastal profile and rough sketch of Hunter islands outlined by Boullanger the 3 nivôse an 10 (December 1802) entitled “Overview taken from our anchorage in the bay of the Cap Rond” with at the top a coastal profile from “Round Cape” to the “North entrance of the Bay”, and at the bottom a sketch of a “Bay near the Round cape on Van Diemen Land (the South is on the top of the sketch)

ANF Marine 5JJ 45, Boullanger’s bearing book, p. 85. Reproduced on microfilm in the State Library of South Australia, ARG Series 1, reel 23.
- 17 Plan de l’Ile Maria sur la côte orientale de la Terre de Diemen, available in http://nla.gov.au/nla (...)
17The hydrographical work of Boullanger includes, among others, the circumnavigation of Maria Island ‘to make a plan of it’ (19 February 1802)17, the determination of ‘the position of the Hunter Group which forms the entrance to Bass Strait south of King Island’ (7 December 1802), and ‘the geographical work on the two West coasts of the gulfs’ (St Vincent and Spencer Gulfs in South Australia, January 1803). Freycinet was the designated officer who accompanied Boullanger in the two later missions on the Casuarina. On their missions together bearings were taken with the nautical instruments and the timekeepers read at regular intervals by both men and corrected and averaged by Boullanger, while Freycinet took the soundings. The measured angles were plotted on the spot-on preliminary sketches and recorded in tables. For example, from the mooring where Freycinet and Boullanger anchored in the South of the Hunter islands, Boullanger quickly sketched the profiles and the outlines of the coasts that formed the horizon, (see on the top part of the figures 2 and 3), where he shows a ‘Cap rond’ (a round cape) followed by a ‘isthme très bas’ (very shallow isthmus, figure 2), or a ‘isle longue’ (long island, figure 3). These profiles were associated with rough sketches, (on the lower part of the figures 2 and 3), where the route and the anchorage of the Casuarina, from which the bearings were taken, are located. Simultaneously, the bearings of the ‘Cap rond’ and the points A, B, C, or of the ‘Ile longue’ and surrounding geographical features such as the rocks ‘S’ or ‘T’ or islets ‘11’ or ‘12’ were recorded in a logbook, with the respective times of their observation. Back on board the Géographe, a rough chart was constructed (figure 4).
Figure 3. At the top, coastal profile entitled ‘overview from the anchorage south to the long island in the bay south of Hunter islands’showing the islands, rocks, Van Diemen coast, the bay and a peak. In the lower and left part, the ‘eastern coast of the long island’, and on the right part, rough plan entitled ‘general sketch of Hunter islands’ placing the ‘ile Longue’, the ‘Ile aux 3 Mandrains’, and the coast of Van Diemen Land and other geographical features shown on the profile. These drawing were drafted by Boullanger in December 1802.

ANF Marine 5JJ 45, Boullanger’s bearing book, p. 78, Reproduced on microfilm in the State Library of South Australia, ARG Series 1, reel 23.
Figure 4. Rough Chart of Hunter islands constructed during the voyage ‘by order of the Capitaine de vaisseau Baudin from the bearings and observations taken on board the Casuarina by the engineer-geo. and the lieutenant de Veau.

Freycinet’ ANF Marine 6JJ 4 Reproduced on microfilm in the State Library of South Australia, ARG Series 1, reel 23.
18The latitude was recorded with measurements taken with the reflecting circle and the longitude estimated with the aid of timekeepers (made by Berthoud), and corrected regularly to eliminate errors due to time drift (see figure 6, with the timekeeper/marine chronometer n˚ 38 that needed to be readjusted to Paris Time). The time pieces were affected by the state of the weather: the timekeeper 38 was losing time with humidity, and running too fast when the temperature was above 15 degrees. Boullanger notes in his ‘general note on the chart of Hunter Islands’ that because of the bad weather they encountered, it had been challenging to link the various directions of their routes and very difficult to take angles. He also reported the great agitation of the compass needle. When confronted with these difficulties, Boullanger explained that he identified a geographical feature visible in all directions and used it as ‘a central point to which I [Boullanger] tried to connect all the other ones’ (see figure 5, with the point Y and Z). He took as many bearings of this central point as possible, linked his results with other azimuths taken on surrounding features and hour angles of the sun taken at anchorage at different times.
Figure 5. Revising the geographical position and coastline of the ile aux trois Mandrains (Hunter islands), from the island’s highest points Y and Z.

ANF Marine 6JJ/5/45, Reproduced on microfilm in the State Library of South Australia,ARG Series 1, reel 23.
19The hydrographical work was always challenging and sometimes very difficult as Freycinet explained in his narrative (p.427):
The mission entrusted to Boullanger and me to chart the Hunter Islands is without doubt one of the hardest and difficult we did during the voyage. We had almost every day a dark and rainy weather, with such a violent wind and rough sea that rarely was the compass sufficiently steady to be reliable. In addition to these already very serious drawbacks, the marine currents were desperately very variable and strong. We tried to go over these difficulties by increasing the number of bearings, with careful drawings, many angles taken with the circle, and finally with alignment bearings that were most useful. It is possible that we proceeded ten times more than we should have done in favorable circumstances to draw an exact map…
20Faure was also entrusted by Baudin or Hamelin with hydrographical missions, for example, the survey of the ‘Baie des Chiens marins’ in New
Figure 6.Time angles of the sun taken by Boullanger and compared with hour angles taken with the watch n.38 on the 17 Frimaire An 11 (Hunter islands) ANF Marine 5JJ 45, Boullanger’s bearing book, p. 28 (extract of this page).

Reproduced on microfilm in the State Library of South Australia, ARG Series 1, reel 23.
21Holland (Shark Bay, in Western Australia) in July and August 1801; the survey of Frederik Hendricks Bay in the d’Entrecasteaux canal in Van Diemen’s Land (Frederick Henry Bay,) in January 1802 (or Pluviôse An dix in the Republican calendar), when Boullanger was too unwell to do it, and the circumnavigation of King Island in Bass Strait (December 1802, when Boullanger was mapping the Hunter Islands).
22In Frederick Hendricks Bay, the objective of Faure’s mission was to check if the land called ‘Tasman Island’ in the D’Entrecasteaux atlas was actually separated from Van Diemen’s Land as Baudin had had doubts about it. Beautemps-Beaupré did not have sufficient time and good enough weather conditions to take sufficient bearings to accurately complete the hydrography of the Northern part of the bay. Faure started his surveying work in Frederick Henry Bay by making up of profiles quickly done to delineate very roughly the form of the bay and its geographical features as they were appearing naturally to him (island, cape, sandy cove, misty part…). He indicated the anchorage of his boat from where he took azimuths and bearings of points designated by letters (figure 7, letters S, T, U, V, X, Y, Z, see for example “Cap Y 119º45’ ”). Details of the ship’s route and his observations were systematically recorded in his log book by days and hours in columns, with the addition of some geographical and nautical comments.
Figure 7. Circular overview of Frederick Hendricks Bay sketched by Faure during his mission in the d’Entrecasteaux channel in January 1802, showing islands, heads, coves, and capes designated with letters and, for some of them, their geographical coordinates

ANF Marine 5JJ 53, Faure’s Frederick Hendricks Bay bearing book, p. 4, Reproduced on microfilm in the State Library of South Australia, ARG Series 1, reel 23.
23These data and sketches constituted the baseline information used by Faure to construct later successive versions of the chart of Frederick Hendricks Bay (figures 9-10) on a sheet of graph paper (squares measured in ‘toises’, an old unit of measurement approximately 1.95m), to align the bearings.
- 18 Archives nationales de France, Marine 5JJ/24
- 19 http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-230974066/view
24In his mission report, Faure was able to note that ‘Tasman Land should be called a peninsula, being joint to Van Diemen Land by an isthmus of about 80 toises in width, with 100 toises length18.’ Later, in Paris, Freycinet updated the Beautemps-Beaupré chart of the d’Entrecasteaux canal in accordance with Faure’s work. This can be seen in the plate of the atlas entitled Carte particulière de la côte sud-est de la Terre de Diemen/dressée par L. Freycinet d’après ses observations et celles de M. M. H. Freycinet, Faure & Boullanger, Février 180219.
Figure 8. At the top, coastal profiles with Capes (Cap P, Q, V…) in the ‘Baie du Nord’ (Southeast coast of Van Diemen land), at the bottom, sketch of the bay. Outlined by Faure during his mission in the d’Entrecasteaux channel in January 1802.

ANF Marine 5JJ 53, Faure’s Frederick Hendricks Bay bearing book, p. 2, Reproduced on microfilm in the State Library of South Australia, ARG Series 1, reel 23.
25Boullanger and Faure also joined together to do some hydrographical work, especially in 1803 when they were both on board the Géographe after the Naturaliste returned to France. They surveyed parts of the South coast of Kangaroo Island (January 1803, see figure 11) and resurveyed the West coast of Australia (March-May1803).
The appointment of Freycinet as editor of the atlas
26At the end of the voyage all logbooks, sketches and rough charts together with the various journals and notebooks of Boullanger, Faure, Freycinet and all the other crew members were collected and deposited in Paris at the Dépôt des cartes et plans de la Marine. It was from this information that the fair charts of the voyage were constructed.
Figure 9. Construction of a chart of the Southeast coast of Van Diemen Land on graph paper by Faure representing the results of his surveying mission in the d’Entrecasteaux channel in January 1802.

ANF Marine 6JJ 4, Reproduced on microfilm in the State Library of South Australia, ARG Series 1, reel 23.
Figure 10. Rough plan of Frederik Hendriks Bay, sketched by Faure after his surveying mission in the d’Entrecasteaux channel, during the voyage. At the top right side of the sheet, Faure acknowledged that “this plan is just …a rough draft in construction”.

ANF Marine 6JJ 4, Reproduced on microfilm in the State Library of South Australia, ARG Series 1, reel 23.
27Faure did not participate to the construction of the fair charts at the Dépôt des cartes et plans de la Marine, as he asked to disembark in Isle de France (Mauritius, that was a French colony from 1715 to 1810) on the return voyage. There he married and spent the rest of his life as a pharmacist and later, as a professor of mathematics at the Collège Royal.
28Boullanger was appointed as an engineer-hydrographer at the Dépôt des cartes et plans de la Marine in June 1804 and did participate in the work, albeit not as the editor of the atlas as may have been expected.
Figure 11. Rough chart of the East part of Kangaroo Island using the triangulation method to plot the coastline.

ANF Marine 6JJ 4, Reproduced on microfilm in the State Library of South Australia, ARG Serie 1, reel 23.
29His long and recurrent illness with dysentery contracted in Timor in 1801, together with his poor and failing eyesight probably excluded him from being entrusted as the principal of this work. In fact, he died on the 28 December 1813 before the publication of the geographical and nautical atlas of the voyage. In view of the inability of the engineergeographers to assume the responsibility of the editing and publishing work, the senior officer in command of the D’Entrecasteaux voyage after the death of d’Entrecasteaux, Élisabeth-Paul-Édouard De Rossel, and the engineer-hydrographer, Beautemps-Beaupré, were assigned the task based on their hydrographical experience and their professional reputations. Eventually, however, Freycinet being the most familiar with the details of the voyage took over the task.
30Upon his return to France, Freycinet in May 1804 was given command of the corvette Le Voltigeur, stationed in Anvers. His cartographical work for the atlas started in 1805 after he had to resign his position as commander of Le Voltigeur for health reasons after just 15 months of service. Back in Paris, Freycinet sent a letter to the Navy Minister Denis Decrès (the ‘Ministre de la Marine et des Colonies’) asking ‘to be in charge of the editing work of the geographical and nautical part of the voyage of discovery made under the command of Captain Baudin’. Decrès’s answer was:
- 20 Decrès to Freycinet, Paris 9 December 1805, SHM, Série CC7. Reproduced on microfilm in the State Li (...)
I am confident that you [Freycinet] can assist in a functional way Messrs. Panat, de Rossel and Beautemps-Beaupré to whom the editing task was already entrusted. I encourage you to get together with them about this object, and to let them know, by communicating to them this letter, the approval I give to your cooperation in their work20.
- 21 Decrès to Freycinet, Paris 9 December 1805, SHM, Série CC7. Reproduced on microfilm in the State Li (...)
31Hence, Decrès appointed Freycinet to the Dépôt des cartes et plans de la Marine in Paris to assist ‘Sirs Panat, de Rossel and BeautempsBeaupré’ in the editorial tasks of the Baudin expedition21. Charles Louis Etienne Chevalier de Panat was at the time the permanent undersecretary of the Navy and ultimately responsible for the posting of Naval officers.
- 22 Freycinet (Desaulses de), Voyage de découvertes aux terres Australes, Navigation et géographie, p. (...)
- 23 Freycinet to the Decrès, Paris 3 January 1812, SHM, Série CC7. Reproduced on microfilm in the State (...)
32In effect, Freycinet became the editor of the atlas of the Voyage de Découvertes aux Terres Australes. Freycinet took this responsibility as Rossel and Beautemps-Beaupré had not participated in the voyage and in any case had at the time many other priorities, including the edition of their own voyage with d’Entrecasteaux. Searching through the nautical and geographical information and data of the many journals of the Baudin expedition was a difficult puzzle, where most of the documentation was ‘an inextricable maze’ with ‘sometimes divergent opinions’22. Only someone familiar with the details of the voyage could have made sense of the mass of material and extracted the information necessary to construct reliable maps. Freycinet was determined to publish the geographical results of the voyage as soon as possible. In the context of intense hostilities with Britain, one of Freycinet’s strong growing concerns was that the Royal Navy officer, Matthew Flinders, who captained the Investigator on a rival British expedition would publish an atlas of Australia before the French one, with plates of the contested South-East coast that would present this part of New Holland as a British discovery23. His concern worsened and was realized when Flinders, who had been under house arrest on Isle de France from 1803 to 1810, was liberated and returned to London with the French atlas of the voyage still not published. Indeed, Flinders did later demonstrate in his Atlas of a Voyage to Terra Australis published in 1814 that he ‘discovered first’ major sections of the South coasts that Freycinet had claimed for the French.
33Hence, the Flinders and Baudin expeditions were competing for the European right of the ‘first discoverer’ over the South Land that gave them ‘priority’ rights to it. Freycinet explained to the Navy Minister:
- 24 Freycinet to the Decrès, Paris 3 January 1812, SHM, Série CC7. Reproduced on microfilm in the State (...)
34The leader of this great rival expedition of ours, the British captain Flinders, relentlessly works at the publications of his various works, and despite all the efforts made by the editors of the French voyage, he may very well obtain the priority24.
- 25 Chapuis, 1999, A la mer comme au ciel Beautemps-Beaupré & la naissance de l’hydrographie moderne (1 (...)
35This very tense context explained also the assertive national spirit of Freycinet’s atlas. Of course, it was understood that the Atlas of a state-patronised expedition should symbolize the success and greatness of the nation who sponsored it. However, compared to the atlas of la Pérouse and d’Entrecasteaux, and later nineteenth century atlases, Freycinet’s atlas displays what Olivier Chapuis calls ‘an abuse of nationalism’25, with an aggressive imperial eagle gripping a trident as a symbol on the masthead of the general chart of New Holland (figure 12). Analysis, shown in Table 1, of the 598 place names shown on the maps, selected at the height of the Napoleonic Empire, illustrates the nationalistic bent of the atlas.
- 26 Baudin Beach and Nicolas Baudin Island in South Australia and two islands with the name Baudin in W (...)
Glorifying French scientific and literary personalities (such as Cuvier, Delambre, Laplace, Lavoisier, Pascal, Degérando, Corneille, Voltaire. Montesquieu etc.) |
38.1 % |
High ranking senior officers (preferably ones who gave a hard time to the British such as D’Estrées, Linois, Vivonne, Kersaint, Suffren…) |
26.1 % |
Crew of the Baudin expedition (among them Presqu’Île, Cape, Havre, and Ile Freycinet, Cape Boullanger, Cape Faure, but no place name honouring their captain Baudin)26 |
11.5 % |
French victories and the Imperial family (such as Gulf Napoleon, Gulf Josephine, Terre Napoléon, Aboukir etc.) |
9 % |
36It is doubtful that Freycinet remained totally removed of the choice of toponyms’s, made during the buoyant context of the Napoleonic Empire. However, a later apologetic Freycinet noted in the preface of Volume II of the historical narration of the voyage published in 1816 that the nomenclature should personify the period in which the voyage was undertaken, placing the responsibility of the nationalistic and Napoleonic nomenclature on his colleague François Péron and the previous French authorities:
- 27 Péron, F & Continué par Freycinet (Desaulses de), LC 1816, Voyage de découvertes aux terres austral (...)
I feel that some parts of the geographical nomenclature followed in this narrative may have some unwelcome and painful looks for the reader; but I could not employ other denominations than the ones already in use in the first volume. Péron conceived the project of the names that should designate the various places we visited; this project was adopted by the authority27.
Figure 12. Masthead of the general chart of New-Holland drawn by M.L Freycinet, commander of the goelette Casuarina, in 1808. (Carte générale de la Nouvelle Hollande/dressée par M. L. Freycinet, Commandant la Goëllette le Casuarina, an 1808) Freycinet, L 1812 [sic : published in 1815], Voyage de découvertes aux terres australes, Partie navigation et géographie, ATLAS, plate 1.
![Figure 12. Masthead of the general chart of New-Holland drawn by M.L Freycinet, commander of the goelette Casuarina, in 1808. (Carte générale de la Nouvelle Hollande/dressée par M. L. Freycinet, Commandant la Goëllette le Casuarina, an 1808) Freycinet, L 1812 [sic : published in 1815], Voyage de découvertes aux terres australes, Partie navigation et géographie, ATLAS, plate 1.](docannexe/image/3153/img-12-small480.jpg)
Geographical work overshadowed in France by the Egyptian Campaign, other expeditions and the Napoleonic projects
37Boullanger and Faure did not reach the celebrity status achieved by other expedition engineer-geographers upon the completion of the voyage. This undoubtedly reduced the impact of the voyage. As an example, the engineer-geographer of the military and scientific Egyptian campaign, their colleague from the École Polytechnique, Edmé François Jomard is one who had gained considerable fame.
- 28 The naturalist Etienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire for example, who thus was unable to participate to th (...)
38Jomard had embarked with the mathematician Gaspard Monge, who had helped found the Ecole Polytechnique, and a very large team of 160 scientists to assist in the military conquest, chart Egypt and study the remnants of the Pharaonic civilization. In fact, at the time of the departure of the Baudin expedition, Jomard was still working in Egypt, his mission being not yet completed, and his return not yet ordered28. Thanks to the emphasis that Bonaparte put on this Egyptian expedition, the scientific work of the Campaign of Egypt was given prominence with very substantial and publicized publications. Jomard had the onerous responsibility to edit the massive La Description de L’Égypte, a series of publications that began appearing in 1809.
- 29 Bréelle, D 2010, ‘Les géographes de l’expédition Baudin et la reconnaissance des côtes australes.’ (...)
39Bonaparte’s ambition regarding the expedition to Egypt, was to strongly integrate science with his political and military project. The institutional backing and importance given to the publication of La Description de l’Egypte contributed to overshadowing, to some extent, publications of the Baudin voyage that were not as supported by the Emperor. They offered less attractive results for his imperial politic and did not offer great appeal to a French public that was passionate about Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, architecture, art, religion, history and culture. In addition, descriptions of other voyages, especially that of Alexander von Humboldt who attempted to climb the Chimborazo volcano in the Andes29 in 1802 captured the public attention. He wrote a ‘personal narrative of travels to the equinoctial regions of America’, during the years 1799-1804 that was published in 1814. This work pioneered a biogeographical approach to the voyage narrative and with its innovative thematic maps captured more of the French public’s attention than the Voyage aux Terres Australes.
The priority of the d’Entrecasteaux publications
- 30 Chapuis, O 1999, À la mer comme au ciel Beautemps-Beaupré & la naissance de l’hydrographie moderne (...)
40Publication of the account of state-sponsored expeditions was a costly undertaking involving considerable time and expense. At a time of some financial stringency, competing claims had to wait their turn. The publication of the d’Entrecasteaux and Baudin expeditions each had an allocated budget in excess of 40,000 francs (around US$ 500,000 at today’s value)30.
- 31 The charts were partially returned in 1802 after being copied in London at the Hydrographical Offic (...)
- 32 Ibid., p. 414.
41The publication of the atlas by Freycinet was delayed and eclipsed by the publication of the atlas of the d’Entrecasteaux expedition, that was also delayed because of the Revolutionary wars, and the British confiscation in 1795 of, among other things, Beautemps-Beaupré’s set of 65 fair charts made during the voyage. Paul-Edouard Rossel, who became the senior officer in charge of the expedition after the successive deaths of d’Entrecasteaux and then Alexandre d’Hesmivy, was bringing them back to France on board a Dutch ship that was intercepted by a British ship at a time when the Batavian Republic and France were allies. After Beautemps-Beaupré returned in Paris in 1796, he was asked by the Minister of Navy, Laurent Jean-François Truguet, to remain available to work on the publication of the atlas of the voyage once the documents would be returned31. Beautemps-Beaupré was promoted to adjunct curator of the Dépôt des cartes et plans de la Marine and entrusted as the editor of the atlas of the expedition that accompanied the narration of the voyage, edited by Rossel. Rossel after being stripped of his noble status in November 1793 had remained in London after his capture by the British for fear of the revolutionary Terror. Following the return of most of the documents the d’Entrecasteaux atlas edited by Beautemps-Beaupré was finally published in 1808; that is four years after the return of the Baudin expedition. The atlas received praise from the French press for its quality and innovative character32.
Napoleon’s lack of engagement regarding the South Land
- 33 Todorov, NP 2008, ‘Le redressement naval de 1810-1813 napoléonien et la géographie maritime de l’Eu (...)
42During the Napoleonic period the primary work at the Dépôt des Cartes was not the publication of these atlases, but rather the surveying of European coasts that formed part of the Empire, especially the estuary of the river Escaut with Anvers where Napoléon planned to develop a main shipbuilding area. In 1799 Beautemps-Beaupré had been sent to Anvers where he surveyed the Escaut Estuary between Anvers and Flessingue33. As soon as the Géographe returned to France, Freycinet was posted along with other officers of the expedition, including his brother Henri, to Anvers (see above). Later, in 1811, Boullanger was also sent on a mission to this region to survey the Eastern part of the river Escaut and the river Meuse to complement the Beautemps-Beaupré 1799 plan of the Escaut estuary.
43The charts of Baudin’s voyage were clearly not a core issue in any of the imperial projects. Freycinet therefore faced difficulties in collecting the necessary funds to prepare and engrave the plates of the fair charts of the voyage. Making matters even more difficult was that these funds were to be allocated by two separate ministries. Freycinet wrote to the Navy Minister Decrès in January 1812 regarding the engraving of the two main charts that was ‘suspended for a very long time, by an obstacle, the solution of which does not depend on himself’ (see footnote 30).
- 34 Freycinet to the Decrès, Paris 3 January 1812. Extract of one of the letters about Freycinet’s diff (...)
The two charts I am talking about, Sir, had to be engraved in common costs by our Department [The Ministry of Navy and colonies] and by the one of the Interior. The Navy only had paid on the portion of the balance within this, but the other part of the costs, so often promised and waited for with always great impatience, have not yet been ordered to be paid34.
Engineer-geographers, Navy officers and the responsibility for the hydrographical work
44The demarcation of hydrographical tasks between the appointed engineer-geographers on an expedition and the naval officers could always be a matter of some contention.
45In the La Pérouse and d’Entrecasteaux expeditions the participation of officers in the hydrographical and charting work was not seen as an issue that in any way incumbered the mission of the engineer-geographers. In both cases the two commanders observed with great praise the expertise of their geographers and their vital role in the construction of reliable charts. They considered that the role of the officers was ‘to assist’ them with taking bearings and soundings. For example, La Pérouse wrote to the Minister of Navy:
- 35 La Pérouse, J-FdG 1797, Voyage de La Pérouse autour du monde. T. 4/, publié conformément au décret (...)
Mr Dagelet and the officers have also taken bearings, but Mr Bernizet is the main one who worked on this without interruption; furthermore, he recorded them, discussed them and rejected those which did not link up with the others, and I do have to accept trigonometric operations as being part of geography which is an opinion I did not share when I sailed. He is fully conversant with all the aspects of mathematics that are required for his functions, plans, draws and prepares charts with utmost facility, and I am convinced that his talents would make him invaluable to an army general who appointed him as his aidede-camp in wartime. He can also be most useful in the navy, and I am very anxious to find him a position when he returns35.
46The same is true for d’Entrecasteaux, who, during the voyage, referred to Beautemps-Beaupré as his “chief engineer hydrographer” and wrote:
- 36 Bruni d’Entrecasteaux, JA & Rossel 1808, Voyage de Dentrecasteaux envoyé à la recherche de La Pérou (...)
I could not praise enough the zeal and intelligence of Beautemps-Beaupré, engineer-hydrographer; the detailed map he has drafted with the greatest precision has been completed at the same time as the reconnoitering of New Caledonia. He has been assisted by all the officers and pilots on board. The seldom-employed method of taking astronomical bearings and measuring the angular distance with reflecting instruments has been constantly employed, providing more rigorous certainty to the result of this work, than the results of those bearings obtained on the compass, which compared to astronomical bearings have always shown great discrepancies36.
47Hence, d’Entrecasteaux, his officers, especially Alexandre François de la Fresnay de Saint-Aignan and Pierre Guillaume Gicquel des Touches, as well as the second engineer-geographer of the expedition, Miroir Jouvency, regarded Beautemps -Beaupré as the hydrographical and cartographical expert and supervisor, and were assisting him with astronomic bearings and angles taken with the reflecting circle. They greeted his appointment and role as first engineer-hydrographer of the expedition with some enthusiasm.
48At the beginning of the expedition, Baudin also approved of the work of his geographers.
- 37 Baudin, N 1974, The journal of Post Captain Nicolas Baudin, Commander-inChief of the Corvettes Géog (...)
While we coasted the land, the astronomers and geographers were constantly occupied, taking angles and bearings for making a map of it. I think this work will be well done, judging from the attention they gave to it and our proximity to the shore37. (Coasting Leewin Land-9 Prairial, year 9 [29 May 1801]).
- 38 For instance, the officer Ransonnet constructed sketches of “la Baie des deux peuples”, and of the (...)
49At times Baudin delegated his officers to undertake hydrographical missions as Boullanger and Faure could not alone perform all the surveying work38. However, in line with their roles as engineer-geographers of the expedition he did entrust them with the expedition’s most significant surveying work. Officers like Freycinet were ordered to assist them. For instance, regarding Boullanger’s Hunter Islands mission mentioned above, Baudin’s instructions stated that Boullanger ‘has to study’ the Hunter Islands, and that Freycinet had to ‘help’ and ‘facilitate Citizen Boullanger’s work by all means at his disposal…’. Baudin wrote to Freycinet:
As soon as our geographer, Citizen Boullanger, is aboard, you will set sail for Hunter Islands, the geography of which the French government wants to be studied with the greatest exactitude that work can achieve. To succeed as completely as possible, you are to facilitate Citizen Boullanger’s work by all means at your disposal…
50Simultaneously, Baudin wrote to Boullanger:
- 39 Baudin, The journal of Post Captain Nicolas Baudin, p. 439.
With regard to the perfection of Geography and the safety of navigators, the value that must derive from an accurate knowledge of the position of the Hunter Group…has decided me upon asking you to undertake this work. To enable you to perform it in a manner completely satisfactory to yourself, I have settled it that the Casuarina, commanded by Citizen Freycinet, shall take you to the area that you are to study. This officer will help you by all means at his disposal in the execution of your work…39
51When the main mapping work was being undertaken during the voyage, Baudin in his journal did not praise Boullanger or Faure in the fashion that la Pérouse and D’Entrecasteaux did of their geographers. He did at times however worry about their performance. For example, he commented in his journal about Boullanger’s poor eyesight:
- 40 Baudin, The journal of Post Captain Nicolas Baudin, p. 355.
Citizen Boullanger, our geographer, is unfortunately very short-sighted and can only take bearings and angles with his nose on the ground (15 Ventôse An X, 6 March 1802)40.
52The delegation of the hydrographical duties does not seem to have been commonly understood and there was a difference of opinion between the captain and his officers. Hence, Baudin reported:
- 41 Baudin, The journal of Post Captain Nicolas Baudin, p. 416.
It was certainly in spite of myself that I was obliged to give up completing the examination of the East coast of Van Diemen Land; but it is nonetheless true that the blame lies entirely with the officers who, not knowing that one should never waste a moment at sea, neglected the work when we were searching for the dinghy. Their excuse was that Citizen Boullanger was doing it and they did not want to compete with him41. 3-4 June 1802.
- 42 Boullanger in a report describes how they very fortunately met the Harrington, captained by William (...)
53This was the time when Boullanger was missing with six men in a dinghy, after he was unable to return on board from his bearing work on the evening of the 6 March 1802, on the east coast of Tasmania. Boullanger and the others were ultimately reunited with the Géographe at Port Jackson but only after several months. They had been picked up first by a British brig the Harrington and transferred to the Naturaliste, which was also accidently separated from the Géographe42.
54These separations meant that Baudin and his crew on the Géographe surveyed from April to May 1802 the unknown coast, that was the very purpose of the voyage, with no engineer-geographer on board. Boullanger had become lost, and Faure with Louis Freycinet were on the Naturaliste, that went to Port Jackson.
- 43 West-Sooby,‘Le sourire grinçant du capitaine Baudin’, p. 79-97. During the Revolution. Navy schools (...)
55Besides this accident, Boullanger was often late to return from a mission. His work at the Hunter Islands and the two Gulfs were both delayed, contributing to souring the relationship between the captain and his geographer, the former concerned by the voyage schedule, the later by the need to have enough time to take as many bearings and soundings as possible in order to construct accurate charts of the voyage. This lack of cohesion and discipline must be appreciated to a certain extent as an aftereffect of the upheaval of the French Navy during the French Revolution and the fact that the scientists of the expedition were not subject to the Naval commands43.
- 44 Journal de Louis Freycinet original held in the Archives nationales de France, série Marine, 5JJ/49 (...)
56Further, Freycinet and Boullanger’s collaboration was not as obvious as one might expect: Commenting in his journal on his mission to the Hunter Islands, a frustrated Freycinet commented that he was far better than Boullanger at guessing the geography and morphology of the coasts they were mapping, and in identifying the existence, or nonexistence, of advantageous harbour sites44.
57Other officers of the expedition also undertook survey work in conjunction with the geographers, sometimes it appears, also duplicating their work of map making. For example, Jean Marie Maurouard, Midshipman, was sent in command of the Géographe’s longboat with Boullanger to undertake geographical survey work during the illfated mission in which they became separated from the Géographe. Maurouard later wrote.
- 45 Jean-Marie Maurouard, 1801. Hydrographic Journal of Jean-Marie Maurouard. Archives Nationales de Fr (...)
…I was sent in a boat to survey the geography of the east part of Van Diemen’s Land lying between the Schouten Peninsula and Banks Strait. Work that I did in four days, and with 24 hours’ rations, from the time I left the ship. On 29 July 1802 I gave Commander Baudin the chart drawn up of this part of the coast, with the data used, and an added report. I believe that this chart was not sent to the government with the others, or at least the person in charge of packing up the charts did not find it. The results of the small amount of work done on the N.W. coast of New Holland are not put down in this notebook, however I have done all the calculations for it jointly with Citizen Boullanger, geographer on board the Géographe, and the results were given to the commander45.
58This example and others show a lack of cohesion in the distribution and supervision of the work that must have made sorting out the mass of nautical and geographical information collected and produced during the voyage a difficult task. This task was what Freycinet faced at the Dépôt des cartes et plans de la Marine.
The emergence of Freycinet as a Cartographer
- 46 Freycinet, Voyage de découvertes aux terres Australes, Navigation et géographie.
- 47 Blais, H 2003, ‘Qui dresse la carte ? La controverse entre savants et voyageurs au xixe siècle »’, (...)
59The various descriptions used to refer to Boullanger and Faure’s position on the voyage exemplifies a confusion over their specific function. In correspondence for the preparation of the voyage, they are referred as ‘geographers’, in Baudin’s journal, either as “geographers”, or ‘engineer geographers’, but sometimes ‘hydrographers’, and in Freycinet’s narrative ‘engineer-hydrographers’46. This apparent confusion underlines a problem of demarcation between the Navy officers and the engineer-geographers47 and the struggle of the later to differentiate their specific function from the practices of the officers.
- 48 Gicquel disembarked in 1801 at Ile de France for health reasons.
60Beautemps-Beaupré’s comments regarding his first meeting at the request of Boullanger in 1800 before the voyage’s departure highlights the nature of this issue. He wrote to his colleague, the officer Gicquel mentioned above, who had been on the d’Entrecasteaux expedition with him and who was also recruited reluctantly to be part of the Baudin naval crew48:
- 49 Letter transcribed in Jangoux, p. 105.
We [Beautemps-Beaupré and Boullanger] spoked a great deal about you, and I have even promised to give him [Boullanger] a letter in which I invited you [Gicquel] to render him all the little services you are familiar with, [I told him] that you are well aware of all the operations that are necessary to make good charts and that even, if necessary, you could construct them yourself without external assistance. Your service is absolutely required to these engineers who have the theory, but who may be lacking in real practice. The one I have seen is a very gentle man. I gave him as much as I could an idea of the method I would follow for my work, but the experience you have is better than anything I have been able to tell him…49.
61In the event Gicquel was of little help to the geographers with their survey work as he left the expedition at Ile de France on the outward journey, however, he handed over to Boullanger his Government issued reflecting circle and other instruments.
62In describing the surveying work of the Hunter Islands in the voyage narrative, Freycinet presents, in contrast with Baudin’s order of the mission, that Boullanger was his associate sent to support his hydrographical work. He wrote:
- 50 Freycinet, Voyage de découvertes aux terres Australes, Navigation et géographie, p. 16-17.
The schooner [the Casuarina] was sent on 7 December to do the geography of the Hunter islands, located in the Northwest of Van Diemen’s Land. This work was of very great importance. Mr Boullanger was sent as my associate to complete it50.
- 51 Ibid., p. 393.
Mr Boullanger was wrong when he believed that the watch n.31 was working well; it is because to spot the bearings he was talking about, he used a chart where the South cape of Timor was not correctly positioned. The construction of my chart of the straits of Rottie and Simao showed me this incidental finding that I rectified…51
63In the first edition of the atlas, he affirms his expertise by associating his charting-work to Beautemps-Beaupré’s established trigonometric method. For instance, he used Boullanger’s drafts, rough and fair charts, and bearing book to make the plate of the atlas entitled ‘Trigonometric chart of Hunter Islands’. This plate’s inset states that it is ‘charted by L. Freycinet, commander of the schooner the Casuarina’ without mentioning Boullanger (figure 13). Freycinet further explained its construction in the geographical narrative of the voyage that repeated what Boullanger explained in his notes.
- 52 Ibid.
Luckily, the morphology of the land helped us: Fleurieu Island is low and the peaks of Three Hummock Island high enough to be seen from very far, even over the first of these islands. In the construction, I first positioned these peaks; then with them, I could fix and correct many other points52.
- 53 Ibid.
64Unfortunately, Boullanger’s personal dossier in the Archives Nationales contains very little information about his work at the Dépôt des Cartes that may have helped to review Freycinet’s statement53. Commenting on the construction of the chart of La Terre de Witt, Freycinet reiterated his ‘exclusive’ responsibility in the final drafting of the charts.
Figure 13. Trigonometric map of Hunter islands charted by L. Freycinet, Commander of the Goélette le Casuarina, Décembre 1802.

Freycinet, L 1812, Voyage de découvertes aux Terres australes : ATLAS, plate 9.
- 54 Freycinet, Voyage de découvertes aux terres Australes, Navigation et géographie, p. 445.
The totality of la Terre de Witt was constructed separately by M Boullanger and me, from our respective bearings on the Géographe and the Casuarina, and from the observations done on the former by Ronsard. The comparison of these results and the final drafting of these works are exclusively mine54.
65Of the 34 main charts and plans in the Atlas, 28 give Freycinet as the principal author, three Boullanger, one Faure, one Charles Lesueur (one of the artists of the expedition), and one British sources (plate 29). Freycinet considered that he was as able as the engineer-geographers to take bearings and soundings, observe and interpret the coasts, and construct charts. On several occasions, he described himself as the hydrographical and cartographical authority of the voyage. In June 1816 Freycinet wrote to the Minister of Navy:
- 55 Freycinet to the Navy Minister, Marc Joseph de Gratet Dubouchage, Paris, 6 June 1816, SHM AN Marine (...)
Although two geographers were embarked on our corvettes, it should be noted that a major part of the geographical work of the expedition was done by me. I was also very actively involved in the magnetic and astronomical observations… At my return in France, I was entrusted with the construction of the charts surveyed during the voyage … I conceived, to scale and draw the charts on copper plates, a new method allowing to join with an extreme purity of line and clarity, the highest degree of accuracy: I think, in that, I have served an eminent service to the hydrographical science…55
66His progression up the Navy ranks was slower than many of his fellow travelling officers. Freycinet was promoted to Capitaine de Frégate only in 1811 in contrast to other colleagues from the Baudin expedition who had been better promoted than him. For example, his brother Louis-Henri had been promoted to Capitaine de Frégate in 1808. When he needed a promotion in order to command his own circumnavigation expedition a bitter Freycinet wrote in June 1816 to the Navy Minister,
- 56 Letter from Freycinet to the Navy Minister Marc Joseph de Gratet Dubouchage, Paris, 6 June 1816. SH (...)
…I never asked for reward. … The result of this abnegation is that first and second-class naval cadets who served under my operational command during the voyage of discovery when I was Lieutenant-commander are now equal in rank with me, and most of them even with a higher rank than my Capitaine de Frégate56.
Louis-Claude was finally promoted to Capitaine de Vaisseau later in that year.
- 57 Kingston, R 2016, ‘L’ombre de : Travail d’équipe et travail d’écriture dans le voyage autour du mon (...)
- 58 In fact, Freycinet illegally took a civilian on board, his wife, Rose, who took the position of the (...)
67His cartographical and editing work gave him the opportunity to promote his own new scientific voyage around the world in the Uranie (1817-1820) whose planning drew lessons from his experiences of the Baudin expedition. Hence, he proposed harmonizing the scientific work and discipline on board,with a reduced crew composed of Navy staff57. At a time of budget restrictions, in September 1816, the Navy Minister, François Joseph de Gratet Dubouchage, agreed with Freycinet, to take (in theory)58 no civilians and, consequently no engineer-geographer/hydrographer on board. The surveying work was delegated to a young naval officer, Louis Isidore Duperrey, which, in terms of cost, was more economical than sending an engineer-hydrographer to do the work.
68Du Bouchage reported to King Louis XVIII:
- 59 Report to the King, Paris 18 September 1818, piece 27. The King was asked to approve the fitting ou (...)
A scow of 3 to 400 registered tonnage is intended for this expedition … the crew of the ship would be formed with a very limited number of officers and petty officers, nonetheless, chosen among the most educated ones in nautical and exact sciences…59
- 60 P.XXIX
- 61 Duivenvoorde, WV 2016, ‘Dutch Seaman Dirk Hartog (1583-1621) and his Ship Eendracht’, The Great Cir (...)
69This voyage provided an opportunity for Freycinet to return to Shark Bay, to ‘complete the reconnaissance that M. de Freycinet did himself during Baudin’s voyage’60. It appears that one of Freycinet’s hidden motives to return to Shark Bay was to finally ‘remove the pewter plate left on Dirk-Hartog Island by previous navigators’ (Dirk Hartog’s pewter plate left at Inscription Point in 1616)61 and bring it back to Paris. In 1801 during the Baudin voyage Freycinet had collected this plate but his commander Hamelin had ordered that it be re-erected.
70Duperrey became the editor of the atlas of Freycinet voyage and later captained his own circumnavigation on board La Coquille (1822-1825).
- 62 The son of the famous Antoine de Bougainville.
- 63 Bougainville, Hd 1837 Journal de la navigation autour du globe de la frégate la Thélis et de la cor (...)
71A few years later, Freycinet’s shipmate officer on the Baudin expedition, Hyacinthe de Bougainville62, also captained a voyage around the world (1824-26), without an engineer-geographer on board. Bougainville did, however, see the engineer-geographers of the Dépôt as having a crucial role in the preparation of the documents of the voyage and later, in the examination of the results and the construction of the charts. In particular, he mentioned with praise Pierre Daussy, executive engineer-geographer at the Dépôt des cartes et plans de la Marine63 who provided reliable calculations of latitude and longitude.
Conclusion
- 64 Publié dans: “The Great Circle The Rise Of Louis Freycinet Vol. 38, n° 2”
72This paper64 has explored the mission of the two ‘engineer-geographers’of the Baudin voyage of discovery and the emergence of Louis-Claude Freycinet as the cartographer of the expedition. In the course of the voyage, Boullanger and Faure carried out the mission they had been entrusted to undertake. They surveyed and sketched ‘the south-west, west, north-west coasts of New Holland’ in compliance with Baudin’s instructions. Freycinet was one of the officers who assisted them in their work and these officers at times carried out surveying work of their own.
73Back in Paris, Freycinet as principal and Boullanger applied Beautemps-Beaupré’s methods to process the sometimes-conflicting information from the many journals of the expedition to construct the charts of the voyage. The publication of the atlas was delayed and overshadowed by other voyages, especially the d’Entrecasteaux voyage, and the Napoleonic projects. Freycinet’s battle with two ministries to gather the funds needed for the full publication of the historical and geographical narratives and atlases of the voyage contributed to further delays in their publication. Freycinet’s reputation as the cartographical expert of the Baudin expedition, possibly at the expense of Boullanger, was to a certain degree fortuitous as he built a different career path. Like most of the other officers of the expedition he had been sent on a military mission by Napoléon soon after his arrival back in France but returned due to his ill health in 1805. Back in Paris at the critical time to publish the atlas, Freycinet was the only officer with sufficient authority, knowledge and competence to undertake the publication of the geographical work. As an officer who experienced the long scientific voyage and was acting commander of its surveying schooner the Casuarina, he was ideally suited, and able to make sense of the mass of material collected during the trip necessary to construct reliable maps. He also displayed the persistence and tenacity to get this work completed which does afford him a special place in the early exploration of Australia.
74From his experience of the Baudin expedition, Freycinet set up a different organization for his next voyage on the Uranie, where a limited crew composed of Navy staff were following a scientific methodology with detailed instructions which he wrote himself to regulate coherently the work and life on board.
75It does not mean that the naval officers replaced the engineer-hydrographers as chart makers and chart experts. On the contrary, the role of the engineer-hydrographers at the Dépôt des cartes et plans de la Marine developed significantly and they became key experts in the preparation of voyages and then in the editing and updating of the charts.
Notes
1 Fornasiero, J & West-Sooby, J 2011, ‘Naming and Shaming: The Baudin Expedition and the Nomenclature of Terra Australis ‘, in CM A. Hiatt, A. Scott & C. Wortham (ed.), European Perceptions of Terra Australis, Ashgate, London. West-Sooby, J 2004, ‘Le “sourire grinçant” du capitaine Baudin’, Australian Journal of French Studies; 41(2):79-97, vol. 41, n° 2, p. 79-97. See also Horner, F 1987, The French Reconnaissance: Baudin in Australia, 1801-1803, Melbourne University Press; See also the transcriptions of the journals of the officers available on the Baudin Legacy Project website. http://sydney.edu.au/arts/research/baudin/project/
2 Chappey, J-L 2010, ‘Le capitaine Baudin et la Société des observateurs de l’homme. Questions autour d’une mauvaise reputation’, in M Jangoux (ed.), Portée par l’air du temps : les voyages du capitaine Baudin, Éditions de l’Université de Bruxelles, Bruxelles, p. 145-156. Starbuck, N 2013, Baudin, Napoleon and the Exploration of Australia, ed. Ei perspective, Pickering & Chatto.
3 Baudin, N 1974, The journal of Post Captain Nicolas Baudin, Commander-inChief of the Corvettes Géographe and Naturaliste, assigned by order of the government to a voyage of discovery, translated from the French by Christine Cornell, Libraries Board of South Australia, Adelaide, p. 1.
4 18 Brumaire: 9 November 1799.
5 Letter reproduced on microfilm in the State Library of South Australia, ARG Serie 1, reel 29. Original held in the Archives of the Service Historique de la Marine (SHM), in Vincennes, Série CC7, Dossiers individuels des officiers de Marine et personnels assimilés ; Louis Claude Freycinet.
6 Two atlas were edited by Freycinet: an historical atlas published in 1811, and a geographical atlas, published at the beginning of 1815 (although Freycinet’s editing work was finished in 1812, as it appears on the title page). Freycinet edited also the nautical and geographical volume of the narrative of the voyage that was published in 1816 and explains the construction of the charts of the atlases. Freycinet, L 1811, Voyage de découvertes aux terres australes [cartographic material] : [exécuté par ordre de S.M. L’Empereur et Roi sur les Corvettes le Géographe, le Naturaliste, et la Goélette le Casuarina, pendant les années 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803, & 1804] Tome 2, Historique. Atlas. Deuxième partie Paris. Freycinet, L 1812 [sic: published in 1815], Voyage de découvertes aux terres australes: exécuté par ordre de S.M.L’Empereur et Roi sur les Corvettes le Géographe, le Naturaliste, et la Goélette le Casuarina, pendant les années 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803, & 1804, Partie navigation et géographie ATLAS, Publié par décret impérial edn, vol. 3, Publié par décret impérial, Paris. Freycinet explained the construction of the charts of these atlas in two narratives: Freycinet (Desaulses de), LC 1815 [sic: published in 1816], Voyage de découvertes aux terres Australes, exécuté par ordre de Sa Majesté l’Empereur et Roi exécuté sur les corvettes le Géographe, le Naturaliste et la goëlette Le Casuarina pendant les années 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803, et 1804 sous le commandement du Capitaine de vaisseau N. Baudin Navigation et géographie, Imprimerie Impériale, Paris. Péron, F & Continué par Freycinet (Desaulses de), LC 1816, Voyage de découvertes aux terres australes exécuté par ordre de S.M. L’Empereur et Roi sur les Corvettes le Géographe, le Naturaliste, et la Goélette le Casuarina, pendant les années 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803, & 1804 Historique: Tome second publié par ordre de son excellence le Ministre secrétaire d’Etat de l’Intérieur, vol. 2, Arthus Bertrand, Paris. see Freycinet’s letter dated 6 June 1816, sent to the Navy Minister, original held in the Archives de la Marine (Service Historique de la Marine, SHM), in Vincennes, Série CC7, Dossiers individuels des officiers de Marine et personnels assimilés; Louis Claude Freycinet. Reproduced on microfilm in the State Library of South Australia, ARG Serie 1, reel 29.
7 The Uranie was replaced in the course of the voyage by the Physicienne, after the wreck of the former ship in the Malouines Freycinet, L 1826, Voyage autour du monde exécuté sur les corvettes de S.M. l’Uranie et la Physicienne pendant les années 1817, 1818, 1819 et 1820, publié… par M. Louis de Freycinet… Navigation et hydrographie. Atlas [Texte imprimé] Pillet aîné Paris.
8 The commission was composed with Fleurieu (then member of the Council of State), the navigator Antoine de Bougainville, the historian François La Porte du Theil, the mathematician Pierre Laplace, the zoologist Bernard Lacépède, the mineralogist Lelièvre and was presided by the botanist Antoine -Laurent Jussieu. Jangoux, M 2013, Le voyage aux Terres australes du commandant Nicolas Baudin: Genèse et préambule (1798-1800), PU Paris-Sorbonne, p. 48-49.
9 Faure’s nomination was in replacement of a polytechnic classmate called JacquesJoseph Caunes.
10 Boullanger was from the graduating class of 18 mars 1795, Faure 13 Janvier 1796. There were three other polytechniciens on board: Jean Maurouard, Joseph Charles Bailly and Hyacinthe de Bougainville.
11 Hamelin, sea journal, 30 prairial -1 messidor an 9e [19-20 June 1801]. Original held in the Archives nationales de France, Marine 5JJ/41-42. Reproduced on microfilm in the State Library of South Australia, ARG Serie 1, reel 14.
12 The geographer Buache was Beautemps-Beaupré’s cousin.
13 Chapuis, O 1999, À la mer comme au ciel Beautemps-Beaupré & la naissance de l’hydrographie moderne (1700-1850), Presses de l’Université de ParisSorbonne, Paris, p. 290-291.
14 Jangoux, Le voyage aux Terres australes du commandant Nicolas Baudin: Genèse et préambule (1798-1800), chapters 3 and 5.
15 Hamelin, sea journal, 23-24 brumaire an 9e.
16 http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-230974066/view
17 Plan de l’Ile Maria sur la côte orientale de la Terre de Diemen, available in http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-230974395/view
18 Archives nationales de France, Marine 5JJ/24
19 http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-230974066/view
20 Decrès to Freycinet, Paris 9 December 1805, SHM, Série CC7. Reproduced on microfilm in the State Library of South Australia, ARG Serie 1, reel 29.
21 Decrès to Freycinet, Paris 9 December 1805, SHM, Série CC7. Reproduced on microfilm in the State Library of South Australia, ARG Serie 1, reel 29
22 Freycinet (Desaulses de), Voyage de découvertes aux terres Australes, Navigation et géographie, p. vij.
23 Freycinet to the Decrès, Paris 3 January 1812, SHM, Série CC7. Reproduced on microfilm in the State Library of South Australia, ARG Serie 1, reel 29.
24 Freycinet to the Decrès, Paris 3 January 1812, SHM, Série CC7. Reproduced on microfilm in the State Library of South Australia, ARG Serie 1, reel 29.
25 Chapuis, 1999, A la mer comme au ciel Beautemps-Beaupré & la naissance de l’hydrographie moderne (1700-1850), p. 418.
26 Baudin Beach and Nicolas Baudin Island in South Australia and two islands with the name Baudin in Western Australia were named later; they do not appear in Freycinet’s atlas or narrative. Baudin’s Rocks, in SA were paradoxically named by Matthew Flinders. He explained in his narrative that “we called them Baudin’s Rocks; and since no name is applied to them in M. Peron’s account of their voyage, the appelation is continued.”
27 Péron, F & Continué par Freycinet (Desaulses de), LC 1816, Voyage de découvertes aux terres australes Historique: Tome second, p. VIJ-VIIJ.
28 The naturalist Etienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire for example, who thus was unable to participate to the preparation of Baudin’s voyage.
29 Bréelle, D 2010, ‘Les géographes de l’expédition Baudin et la reconnaissance des côtes australes.’ Etudes sur le xviiie siecle, vol. Portés par l’air du temps : Les voyages du Capitaine Baudin pp. 213-223. See the third part « un contexte peu porteur », p. 220-222.
30 Chapuis, O 1999, À la mer comme au ciel Beautemps-Beaupré & la naissance de l’hydrographie moderne (1700-1850), Presses de l’Université de ParisSorbonne, Paris, p. 414.
31 The charts were partially returned in 1802 after being copied in London at the Hydrographical Office of the Admiralty. Chapuis, 1999, A la mer comme au ciel Beautemps-Beaupré & la naissance de l’hydrographie moderne (1700-1850), p. 401-406.
32 Ibid., p. 414.
33 Todorov, NP 2008, ‘Le redressement naval de 1810-1813 napoléonien et la géographie maritime de l’Europe’, Cahiers du Centre d’études d’histoire de la défense, vol. 36.
34 Freycinet to the Decrès, Paris 3 January 1812. Extract of one of the letters about Freycinet’s difficulties in obtaining the allotted funds to publish the atlas. SHM, Série CC7. Reproduced on microfilm in the State Library of South Australia, ARG Serie 1, reel 29.
35 La Pérouse, J-FdG 1797, Voyage de La Pérouse autour du monde. T. 4/, publié conformément au décret du 22 avril 1791, et rédigé par M. L. A. Milet-Mureau, l’Imprimerie de la République. An V., p. 165 La Pérouse, J-FdG 1995, The Journal of Jean-François de Galaup de la Pérouse, 1785-1788, trans. J Dunmore, vol. 2, Hakluyt Society, London, p. 487.
36 Bruni d’Entrecasteaux, JA & Rossel 1808, Voyage de Dentrecasteaux envoyé à la recherche de La Pérouse, vol. 1, 2 vols., Imprimerie Impériale, p.108 (juin 1792). Bruni d’ Entrecasteaux, JA 2001, Voyage to Australia and the Pacific, 1791-1793, trans. MD Edward Duyker, Melbourne University Press, p. 65.
37 Baudin, N 1974, The journal of Post Captain Nicolas Baudin, Commander-inChief of the Corvettes Géographe and Naturaliste, assigned by order of the government to a voyage of discovery, Translated from the French by Christine Cornell, Libraries Board of South Australia, Adelaide, p. 162.
38 For instance, the officer Ransonnet constructed sketches of “la Baie des deux peuples”, and of the Northeast coast of Ile Decrès (Kangaroo Island), the officer Bonnefoy a map of a harbor in the North of Geographe bay, Heirisson a sketch of Swan River.
39 Baudin, The journal of Post Captain Nicolas Baudin, p. 439.
40 Baudin, The journal of Post Captain Nicolas Baudin, p. 355.
41 Baudin, The journal of Post Captain Nicolas Baudin, p. 416.
42 Boullanger in a report describes how they very fortunately met the Harrington, captained by William Campbell, on 9 March, who took them on board. The Harrington was based in Port Jackson while engaged in sealing in Bass Strait. The following day they met the Naturaliste which was also separated from the Géographe.
43 West-Sooby,‘Le sourire grinçant du capitaine Baudin’, p. 79-97. During the Revolution. Navy schools were characterized by the “general insubordination” of the cadet officers, training at sea was compromised by the war and the British blockade of the French coasts. The Naval Academy and the distinction between merchant and French Navy were abolished. As most of the experienced Navy officers were noblemen threatened by the revolutionary courts (especially during the Terror), many of them left France and lived in exile under the protection of other European Monarchies (for example, Rossel, see above), and there was an erosion of experienced Navy staff and officers. On board at sea, extending his authority was challenging for a captain, as the officers, men of science and sailors were all equal “citizens”, and some important decisions were taken on the majority. For example, after Boullanger and the crew who assisted him on the Geographe’s dinghy went missing on the east coast of Tasmania on the 6 March 1802, Baudin sent “Citizen Freycinet [Henri Freycinet, the brother of Louis Freycinet]… to assemble the crew and naturalists in the large cabin to discover if… there is anyone amongst them who still hopes that we might meet it [the lost dinghy] by returning South…”. Afterwards, the crew, the naturalists and the Petty officers “all presumed that it would be possible to find any traces of the boat in the South”, Baudin noted in his journal: “I was of a completely contrary opinion, for I could not believe that the dinghy had gone South of Cape Pelé, since it had had express instructions to proceed North. However, I fell in with the wish that everyone expressed to return South and manoeuvred all night accordingly.” Baudin, The journal of Post Captain Nicolas Baudin, p. 357-358.
44 Journal de Louis Freycinet original held in the Archives nationales de France, série Marine, 5JJ/49-50. See the transcription in http://sydney.edu.au/arts/ research/baudin/pdfs/louisfreycinet.pdf, p. 99.
45 Jean-Marie Maurouard, 1801. Hydrographic Journal of Jean-Marie Maurouard. Archives Nationales de France, série Marine, 5JJ56. (Note Book 9 (iii), p. 26.
46 Freycinet, Voyage de découvertes aux terres Australes, Navigation et géographie.
47 Blais, H 2003, ‘Qui dresse la carte ? La controverse entre savants et voyageurs au xixe siècle »’, Le Monde des cartes. Revue du comité français de cartographie, vol. 175, p. 25-29.
48 Gicquel disembarked in 1801 at Ile de France for health reasons.
49 Letter transcribed in Jangoux, p. 105.
50 Freycinet, Voyage de découvertes aux terres Australes, Navigation et géographie, p. 16-17.
51 Ibid., p. 393.
52 Ibid.
53 Ibid.
54 Freycinet, Voyage de découvertes aux terres Australes, Navigation et géographie, p. 445.
55 Freycinet to the Navy Minister, Marc Joseph de Gratet Dubouchage, Paris, 6 June 1816, SHM AN Marine CC/7, Reproduced on microfilm in the State Library of South Australia, ARG Serie 1, reel 29.
56 Letter from Freycinet to the Navy Minister Marc Joseph de Gratet Dubouchage, Paris, 6 June 1816. SHM AN Marine CC/7 Reproduced on microfilm in the State Library of South Australia, ARG Serie 1, reel 29.
57 Kingston, R 2016, ‘L’ombre de : Travail d’équipe et travail d’écriture dans le voyage autour du monde de Louis de Freycinet (1817-1821)’, Annales historiques de la Révolution française, n° 3, p. 153-174.
58 In fact, Freycinet illegally took a civilian on board, his wife, Rose, who took the position of the officer Leblanc, apparently constrained by the captain to disembark for health reason. See the Letter of the deputy-director of the Maritime ports to the rear admiral Édouard Thomas de Burgues de Missiessy, 6 October 1817, SHM AN Marine CC/7. Reproduced on microfilm in the State Library of South Australia, ARG Serie 1, reel 29. He also took on board an artist, Jacques Arago, brother of the astronomer.
59 Report to the King, Paris 18 September 1818, piece 27. The King was asked to approve the fitting out of the scow under the command of Freycinet. Reproduced on microfilm in the State Library of South Australia, ARG Serie 1, reel 29.
60 P.XXIX
61 Duivenvoorde, WV 2016, ‘Dutch Seaman Dirk Hartog (1583-1621) and his Ship Eendracht’, The Great Circle, vol. 38, no 1, p. 1-31.
62 The son of the famous Antoine de Bougainville.
63 Bougainville, Hd 1837 Journal de la navigation autour du globe de la frégate la Thélis et de la corvette l’Espérance pendant les années 1824, 1825 et 1826…: Atlas A. Bertrand, Paris.
64 Publié dans: “The Great Circle The Rise Of Louis Freycinet Vol. 38, n° 2”
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Titre | Figure 1. Faure’s 20th lesson of mathematics, entitled “détermination du rapport entre la perpendiculaire à la méridienne sur le sphéroïde et la perpendiculaire sur la sphère inscrite. |
Crédits | Source: ANF Marine 5JJ-53,reproduced on microfilm in the State Library of South Australia, ARG Series 1, reel16. |
URL | http://journals.openedition.org/sabix/docannexe/image/3153/img-1.jpg |
Fichier | image/jpeg, 203k |
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Titre | Figure 2. Coastal profile and rough sketch of Hunter islands outlined by Boullanger the 3 nivôse an 10 (December 1802) entitled “Overview taken from our anchorage in the bay of the Cap Rond” with at the top a coastal profile from “Round Cape” to the “North entrance of the Bay”, and at the bottom a sketch of a “Bay near the Round cape on Van Diemen Land (the South is on the top of the sketch) |
Crédits | ANF Marine 5JJ 45, Boullanger’s bearing book, p. 85. Reproduced on microfilm in the State Library of South Australia, ARG Series 1, reel 23. |
URL | http://journals.openedition.org/sabix/docannexe/image/3153/img-2.jpg |
Fichier | image/jpeg, 159k |
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Titre | Figure 3. At the top, coastal profile entitled ‘overview from the anchorage south to the long island in the bay south of Hunter islands’showing the islands, rocks, Van Diemen coast, the bay and a peak. In the lower and left part, the ‘eastern coast of the long island’, and on the right part, rough plan entitled ‘general sketch of Hunter islands’ placing the ‘ile Longue’, the ‘Ile aux 3 Mandrains’, and the coast of Van Diemen Land and other geographical features shown on the profile. These drawing were drafted by Boullanger in December 1802. |
Crédits | ANF Marine 5JJ 45, Boullanger’s bearing book, p. 78, Reproduced on microfilm in the State Library of South Australia, ARG Series 1, reel 23. |
URL | http://journals.openedition.org/sabix/docannexe/image/3153/img-3.jpg |
Fichier | image/jpeg, 153k |
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Titre | Figure 4. Rough Chart of Hunter islands constructed during the voyage ‘by order of the Capitaine de vaisseau Baudin from the bearings and observations taken on board the Casuarina by the engineer-geo. and the lieutenant de Veau. |
Crédits | Freycinet’ ANF Marine 6JJ 4 Reproduced on microfilm in the State Library of South Australia, ARG Series 1, reel 23. |
URL | http://journals.openedition.org/sabix/docannexe/image/3153/img-4.jpg |
Fichier | image/jpeg, 945k |
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Titre | Figure 5. Revising the geographical position and coastline of the ile aux trois Mandrains (Hunter islands), from the island’s highest points Y and Z. |
Crédits | ANF Marine 6JJ/5/45, Reproduced on microfilm in the State Library of South Australia,ARG Series 1, reel 23. |
URL | http://journals.openedition.org/sabix/docannexe/image/3153/img-5.jpg |
Fichier | image/jpeg, 340k |
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Titre | Figure 6.Time angles of the sun taken by Boullanger and compared with hour angles taken with the watch n.38 on the 17 Frimaire An 11 (Hunter islands) ANF Marine 5JJ 45, Boullanger’s bearing book, p. 28 (extract of this page). |
Crédits | Reproduced on microfilm in the State Library of South Australia, ARG Series 1, reel 23. |
URL | http://journals.openedition.org/sabix/docannexe/image/3153/img-6.jpg |
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Titre | Figure 7. Circular overview of Frederick Hendricks Bay sketched by Faure during his mission in the d’Entrecasteaux channel in January 1802, showing islands, heads, coves, and capes designated with letters and, for some of them, their geographical coordinates |
Crédits | ANF Marine 5JJ 53, Faure’s Frederick Hendricks Bay bearing book, p. 4, Reproduced on microfilm in the State Library of South Australia, ARG Series 1, reel 23. |
URL | http://journals.openedition.org/sabix/docannexe/image/3153/img-7.jpg |
Fichier | image/jpeg, 280k |
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Titre | Figure 8. At the top, coastal profiles with Capes (Cap P, Q, V…) in the ‘Baie du Nord’ (Southeast coast of Van Diemen land), at the bottom, sketch of the bay. Outlined by Faure during his mission in the d’Entrecasteaux channel in January 1802. |
Crédits | ANF Marine 5JJ 53, Faure’s Frederick Hendricks Bay bearing book, p. 2, Reproduced on microfilm in the State Library of South Australia, ARG Series 1, reel 23. |
URL | http://journals.openedition.org/sabix/docannexe/image/3153/img-8.jpg |
Fichier | image/jpeg, 303k |
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Titre | Figure 9. Construction of a chart of the Southeast coast of Van Diemen Land on graph paper by Faure representing the results of his surveying mission in the d’Entrecasteaux channel in January 1802. |
Crédits | ANF Marine 6JJ 4, Reproduced on microfilm in the State Library of South Australia, ARG Series 1, reel 23. |
URL | http://journals.openedition.org/sabix/docannexe/image/3153/img-9.jpg |
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Titre | Figure 10. Rough plan of Frederik Hendriks Bay, sketched by Faure after his surveying mission in the d’Entrecasteaux channel, during the voyage. At the top right side of the sheet, Faure acknowledged that “this plan is just …a rough draft in construction”. |
Crédits | ANF Marine 6JJ 4, Reproduced on microfilm in the State Library of South Australia, ARG Series 1, reel 23. |
URL | http://journals.openedition.org/sabix/docannexe/image/3153/img-10.jpg |
Fichier | image/jpeg, 346k |
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Titre | Figure 11. Rough chart of the East part of Kangaroo Island using the triangulation method to plot the coastline. |
Crédits | ANF Marine 6JJ 4, Reproduced on microfilm in the State Library of South Australia, ARG Serie 1, reel 23. |
URL | http://journals.openedition.org/sabix/docannexe/image/3153/img-11.jpg |
Fichier | image/jpeg, 88k |
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Titre | Figure 12. Masthead of the general chart of New-Holland drawn by M.L Freycinet, commander of the goelette Casuarina, in 1808. (Carte générale de la Nouvelle Hollande/dressée par M. L. Freycinet, Commandant la Goëllette le Casuarina, an 1808) Freycinet, L 1812 [sic : published in 1815], Voyage de découvertes aux terres australes, Partie navigation et géographie, ATLAS, plate 1. |
URL | http://journals.openedition.org/sabix/docannexe/image/3153/img-12.jpg |
Fichier | image/jpeg, 219k |
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Titre | Figure 13. Trigonometric map of Hunter islands charted by L. Freycinet, Commander of the Goélette le Casuarina, Décembre 1802. |
Crédits | Freycinet, L 1812, Voyage de découvertes aux Terres australes : ATLAS, plate 9. |
URL | http://journals.openedition.org/sabix/docannexe/image/3153/img-13.jpg |
Fichier | image/jpeg, 209k |
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Dany Bréelle, « The hydrographical work of Charles Boullanger and Pierre Faure, engineer-geographers of the Baudin expedition », Bulletin de la Sabix [En ligne], 69 | 2022, mis en ligne le 04 décembre 2022, consulté le 17 avril 2025. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/sabix/3153 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/sabix.3153
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