Joseph Frederick Wallet Des Barres (22 November 1721 or April–May 1729 – 24 or 27 October 1824) was a Canadian

cartographer Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an im ...

who served in the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754� ...

, as the aide-de-camp to

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

James Wolfe. He later went on to serve as the Lieutenant-Governor of Cape Breton and later as Lieutenant-Governor of Prince Edward Island. Des Barres also created the monumental four volume '' Atlantic Neptune'', which was the most important collection of maps, charts and views of North America published in the eighteenth century. Colonel Des Barres is buried with his wife in the

crypt A crypt (from Latin ''crypta'' "vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics. Originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a chur ...

St. George's (Round) Church, Halifax, Nova Scotia St. George's (Anglican) Round Church is a wooden round church in the neo-Classical Palladian style located in Halifax Regional Municipality in Downtown Halifax. Construction on the church began in 1800 thanks in large part to the financial backin ...

Early life

Des Barres, who is seen as having lived through important changes in

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

's history, is thought to have been born in Basel, Switzerland (although Montbéliard has also been suggested), and was a member of a

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

family. His parents were Joseph-Leonard Vallet DesBarres and Anne-Catherine Cuvier and he was the eldest of their three children. Des Barres read mathematics and art at the University of Basel, studying under John and

Daniel Bernoulli Daniel Bernoulli FRS (; – 27 March 1782) was a Swiss mathematician and physicist and was one of the many prominent mathematicians in the Bernoulli family from Basel. He is particularly remembered for his applications of mathematics to mechan ...

. Upon the completion of his studies he left for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

.Jerry Lockett. Captain James Cook in Atlantic Canada. The adventurer & Map Maker's Formative Years. Formac Publishing Company Limited, Halifax, NS. 2011. There he enrolled at the

Royal Military Academy, Woolwich The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers of the Royal Corps of Sig ...

. It was there that Des Barres trained to become a

military officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer, or a warrant officer. However, absent context ...

, and studied military surveying. His training would also benefit him later in life for

surveying Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...

map making Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an im ...

, and coastal charting. In 1756 he was commissioned into the Royal Americans (the 62nd Foot later known as the

60th Foot The King's Royal Rifle Corps was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army that was originally raised in British North America as the Royal American Regiment during the phase of the Seven Years' War in North America known in the United St ...

Seven Years' War

In 1756 Des Barres sailed to North America and was with Edward Boscawen's fleet when it attacked the Fortress of Louisbourg in 1758. He distinguished himself by capturing a French entrenchment at Kennington Cove. Soon he was put to work charting the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the approaches to Quebec, information that would be used the following year in

James Wolfe's James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

's assault on the City of Quebec. In 1760 he was at Halifax to prepare plans for the city's defences and naval yard.

Jonathan Binney Jonathan Binney (January 7, 1723/24 – October 8, 1807) was a merchant, judge and political figure in Nova Scotia. He was a member of the 1st to 3rd Nova Scotia House of Assemblies from 1758 to 1765. He arrived in Nova Scotia in 1753. ...

and DesBarres met the Mi'kmaw chiefs at

Arichat, Nova Scotia Arichat is an unincorporated place in the Municipality of the County of Richmond, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is the main village on Isle Madame on the southeastern tip of Cape Breton Island. Toponym The name derives from a Mi'kmaq word meaning ...

, in 1761, and concluded a lasting peace. By 1762 he was sent to

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

to survey Harbour Grace and Carbonear and to draw up plans for new harbour defences to replace those destroyed by the French.

James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...

was sent as his assistant. (DesBarres may have met Cook earlier at either Louisbourg or Halifax.)

Castle Frederick

Des Barres established an estate at Falmouth, Nova Scotia, known as Castle Frederick, which served as his base of operations from 1764 until he returned to England in 1773. The 1770 Nova Scotia census indicates Castle Frederick had a staff of 41 men, 13 women, 5 boys, and 33 girls. One of the women, Mary Cannon, served as housekeeper and manager of Castle Frederick from 1764 to 1794. She also administered tenant farmers on Des Barres' land holdings of in

Tatamagouche Tatamagouche (Mi'kmaq: ''Taqamiju’jk'') is a village in Colchester County, Nova Scotia, Canada. Tatamagouche is situated on the Northumberland Strait 50 kilometres north of Truro and 50 kilometres west of Pictou. The village is located along ...

, in

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

and approximately in Maccan, Nappan, and

Minudie Minudie is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in Cumberland County about from River Hebert. Once a thriving town with a population peaking about 1870 at more than 600 people, Minudie today still has three churches but ...

. His Tatamagouche holdings formed the western coastal boundary of the

Philadelphia grant The Philadelphia grant describes of land along the south shore of the Northumberland Strait between Tatamagouche and Pictou, Nova Scotia. Following expulsion of the Acadians, the British government distributed Acadian land to various landlords un ...

Atlantic Neptune

Des Barres made many maps of the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

, mapping the coast of North American from Newfoundland to New York. His survey of the coast of

took approximately ten years due its length and intricacy. Des Barres was exasperated with the work, stating "There is scarcely any known shore so much intersected with Bays, Harbours, and Creeks as this is" "and the Offing of it is so full of Islands, Rocks, and Shoals as are almost innumerable." The survey work was carried out in the summer and in the winter he would retire to Castle Frederick to complete his charts and drawings. His most notable work is the ''Atlantic Neptune''. In 1774 under direction for the British Admiralty, Des Barres compiled and edited his and many others' charts and maps of eastern North America. The completed work was published in 1777, having cost the Admiralty an estimated £100,000.

Governor

Joseph Frederick Wallet DesBarres Statue, Sydney, Nova Scotia

To accommodate the arrival of the

United Empire Loyalists United Empire Loyalists (or simply Loyalists) is an honorific title which was first given by the 1st Lord Dorchester, the Governor of Quebec, and Governor General of The Canadas, to American Loyalists who resettled in British North America duri ...

, Cape Breton was created as a separate colony from Nova Scotia (as was New Brunswick) and Des Barres served as the

lieutenant governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

of Cape Breton from 1784 to 1787. He laid out the original plan of the capital,

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. He was later governor of

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen Provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has seve ...

from 1804 to 1812.

Dalhousie University Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the fou ...

has a number of items of Colonel Des Barres in one of its archive collections. He died at the age of 102, and his date of death is variously given as 24 and 27 October. Colonel Des Barres is buried

. While he was buried beside his wife Martha, he was survived by his mistress Mary Cannon and their four children. His funeral took place in St. George's Round Church in 1824.

Publications

* '' Atlantic Neptune'' (atlas of Eastern North America)

Legacy

The following road is named after DesBarres: * Des Barres St., Sydney, Nova Scotia

References

External links

Archaeological excavations of his home, Castle Frederick
{{DEFAULTSORT:Des Barres, Joseph Frederick Wallet 1824 deaths People from Basel-Stadt Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich Swiss cartographers Canadian cartographers Canadian centenarians Men centenarians Swiss centenarians Lieutenant Governors of Cape Breton Island Swiss military engineers Canadian military engineers Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada) Royal American Regiment officers Lieutenant Governors of the Colony of Prince Edward Island 18th-century Swiss military personnel 19th-century Swiss military personnel 1720s births