Читать книгу Voyage In Search Of La Perouse Volume I - Jacques Labillardiere - Страница 4
INTRODUCTION.
ОглавлениеNO intelligence had been received for three years respecting the ships Boussole and Astrolabe, commanded by M. de la Pérouse, when, early in the year 1791, the Parisian Society of Natural History called the attention of the Constituent Assembly to the fate of that navigator, and his unfortunate companions.
The hope of recovering at least some wreck of an expedition undertaken to promote the sciences, induced the Assembly to send two other ships to fleet the same course which those navigators must have pursued, after their departure from Botany Bay. Some of them, it was thought, might have escaped from the wreck, and might be confined in a desert island, or thrown upon same coast inhabited by savages. Perhaps they might be dragging out life in a distant clime, with their longing eyes continually fixed upon the sea, anxiously looking for that relief which they had a right to expect from their country.
On the 9th of February 1791, the following decree was passed upon this subject:
"The National Assembly having heard the
"report of its joint Committees of Agriculture,
"Commerce, and the Marine, decrees,
"That the King be petitioned to issue orders
"to all the ambassadors, residents, consuls, and
"agents of the nation, to apply, in the name of
"humanity, and of the arts and sciences, to the
"different Sovereigns at whose courts they
"reside, requesting them to charge all their
"navigators and agents whatsoever, and in what
"places soever, but particularly in the most south
"erly parts of the South Sea, to search diligently
"for the two French frigates, the Boussole and
"the Astrolabe, commanded by M. de la
"Pérouse, as also for their ships' companies, and to
"make every inquiry which has a tendency to
"ascertain their existence or their shipwreck; in
"order that, if M. de la Pérouse and his
"companions should be found or met with, in any place
"whatsoever, they may give them every assistance,
"and procure them all the means necessary
"for their return into their own country, and for
"bringing with them all the property of which
"they may be possessed; and the National
"Assembly engages to indemnify, and even to
"recompense, in proportion to the importance of
"the service, any person or persons who shall
"give assistance to those navigators, shall procure
"intelligence concerning them, or shall be
"instrumental in restoring to France any papers or
"effects whatsoever, which may belong, or may
"have belonged, to their expedition:
"Decrees, farther, that the King be petitioned
"to give orders for the sitting out of one or more
"ships, having on board men of science,
"naturalists, and draughtsmen, and to charge the
"commanders of the expedition with the
"two-fold mission of searching for M. de la Pérouse,
"agreeable to the documents, instructions, and
"orders which final be delivered to them, and of
"making inquiries relative to the sciences and to
"commerce, taking every measure to render this
"expedition useful and advantageous to navigation,
"geography, commerce, and the arts and
"sciences, independently of their search for M.
"de la Pérouse, and even after having found him,
"or obtained intelligence concerning him."
Compared with the original, by us the President and Secretaries of the National Assembly, at Paris, this 24th day of Feb. 1791.
(Signed) | DUPORT, | President. |
{LIORE, {BOUSSION, | Secretaries. |
From my earliest years, I had devoted myself to the science of natural history; and, being persuaded, that it is in the great book of Nature, that we ought to study her productions, and form a just idea of her phenomena, when I had finished my medical course, I took a journey into England, which was immediately followed by another into the Alps, where the different temperatures of a mountainous region present us with a prodigious variety of objects.
I next visited a part of Asia Minor, where I resided two years, in order that I might examine those plants, of which the Greek and Arabian physicians have left us very imperfect descriptions; and I had the satisfaction of bringing from that country very important collections.
Soon after my return from this last tour, the National Assembly decreed the equipment of two ships, in order to attempt to recover at least a part of the wreck of the ships commanded by La Pérouse.
It was an honourable distinction to be of the number of those, whose duty it was to make every possible search, which could contribute to restore to their country, men who had rendered her such services.
That voyage was, in other respects, very tempting to a naturalist. Countries newly discovered might be expected to increase our knowledge with new productions, which might contribute to the advancement of the arts and sciences.
My passion for voyages had hitherto increased, and three months spent in navigating the Mediterranean, when I went to Asia Minor, had given me some experience of a long voyage. Hence I seized with avidity this opportunity of traversing the South Seas.
If the gratification of this passion for study costs us trouble, the varied products of a newly discovered region amply compensate us for all the sufferings unavoidable in long voyages.
I was appointed by the Government to make, in the capacity of naturalist, the voyage of which I am about to give an account.
My Journal, which was kept with care during the whole course of the voyage, contained many nautical observations; but I ought to observe, that that part of my work would have been very incomplete, without the auxiliary labour bestowed upon it by Citizen Legrand, one of the best officers of our expedition.
I take this opportunity of testifying my grateful remembrance of that skilful mariner, whose loss in the present war is a subject of regret.
When I was leaving Batavia, in order to proceed to the Isle of France, Citizen Piron, draughtsman to the expedition, begged my acceptance of duplicates of his drawings of the dresses of the natives, which he had made in the course of the Voyage. I do not hesitate to assure my readers, that those works of his pencil are striking likenesses.
I have endeavoured to report, in the most exact manner, the facts which I witnessed during this painful voyage, across seas abounding with rocks, and among savages, against whom it was necessary to exert continual vigilance.
General Dentrecasteaux received the command of the expedition. That officer requested from the Government two ships of about five hundred tons burden, Their bottoms were sheathed with wood, and then filled with scupper nails. It was not apprehended that this mode would diminish their velocity, and it was thought that it would add to the solidity of their construction. It is, however, acknowledged that ships sheathed and bottomed with copper may be constructed with equal solidity, and that they have greatly the advantage in point of sailing. Those ships received names analogous to the object of the enterprize. That in which General Dentrecasteaux embarked, was called the Recherche (Research), and the other, commanded by Captain Huon Kermadec, received the name of the Esperance (the Hope).
The Recherche had on board one hundred and thirteen men at the time of her departure: the Esperance only one hundred and six.
ON BOARD OF THE RECHERCHE.*
Principal Officers.
Bruny Dentrecasteaux, Commander of the Expedition, | |
Doribeau [Dauribeau], Lieutenant, | |
Rossel, ditto, | |
Cretin, ditto, | |
Saint Aignan, ditto, | |
Singler Dewelle ditto, | |
Willaumez senior, Ensign, | |
Longuerue, Eleve, | |
Achard Bonvouloir, ditto, | |
Dumerite, Volunteer, | |
Renard, Surgeon, | |
Hiacinthe Boideliot, Surgeon's Mate. | |
Letrand, Astronomer, | |
Labillardiere, Naturalist, | |
Deschamps, ditto, | |
Louis Ventenat, ditto, acting as Chaplain, | |
Beautems Beaupré, Geographical Engineer, | |
Piron, Draughtsman, | |
Lahaie, Gardener. | |
Warrant and Petty Officers | 8 |
Gunners and Soldiers | 18 |
Carpenters | 3 |
Caulkers | 2 |
Sail-makers | 2 |
Pilots | 3 |
Armourer | 1 |
Blacksmith | 1 |
Sailors | 36 |
Young Sailors | 3 |
Boys | 4 |
Cook, Baker, &c. | 5 |
Domestics. | 8 |
ON BOARD THE ESPERANCE.
Principal Officers.
Huon Kermadec, Captain, | |
F Trobiant, Lieutenant, | |
Lasseny, ditto, | |
Lufançay, ditto, | |
Larnotte Dupertail, ditto, | |
Legrand, Ensign, | |
Laignel, ditto, | |
Jurieu, Volunteer, | |
Boyne, Eleve, | |
Jouanet, Surgeon, | |
Gauffre, Surgeon's Mate. | |
Pierson, Astronomer, acting as Chaplain, | |
Riche, Naturalist, | |
Blavier, ditto, | |
Jouveney, Geographical Engineer, | |
Ely, Draughtsman, | |
Warrant and Petty Officers | 8 |
Armourers | 2 |
Gunners and Marines | 14 |
Carpenters | 3 |
Blacksmith | 1 |
Caulkers | 2 |
Sail-makers | 2 |
Pilots | 4 |
Sailors | 36 |
Boys | 5 |
Cook, Baker, &c. | 5 |
Domestics | 8 |
[* The name of every individual on board both the ships is inserted in the original; but it seems unnecessary to retain any names in this translation but that of the officers and men of science, who, if we may tire the expression, are the chief dramatis personæ, and several of them come forward, in their respective capacities, in the course of the work.—Translator.]
It is melancholy to add, that of two hundred and nineteen people, ninety-nine had died before my arrival in the Isle of France. But it must be observed, that we lost but few people in the course of our voyage, and that the dreadful mortality which we experienced was owing to our long stay in the island of Java.