Louis Aleno de St Aloüarn

Louis Francois Marie Aleno de Saint Aloüarn (25 July 173827 October 1772) was a notable French Navy officer and explorer.

St Aloüarn was the first European to make a formal, but now unrecognised, claim of sovereignty — on behalf of France — over the west coast of Australia, which was known at the time as " New Holland". Much of this west coast had already been charted by other mariners from the Netherlands, following a landing by Dirk Hartog in 1616, who left a commemorative plaque recording his visit. James Cook, in 1770, had charted and claimed the east coast for Britain. When St Aloüarn visited New Holland in 1772, neither British nor Dutch officials had issued a formal claim over this western part of New Holland. However, the French claim over Western Australia was never secured by a permanent settlement.

Early life and military career

St Aloüarn's parents were François Marie Guénolé Pantaléon d’Aleno and Marie Josèphe Pélagie de Quillien, both members of the aristocracy. He was born at Saint-Aloüarn, near Guengat, Brittany.

The family, including St Aloüarn's father, had a history of service in the French Navy, and St Aloüarn joined the ''Gardes de la Marine'' in 1754.Stanbury 1999, p. 5. As a naval cadet, he joined his uncle, René de Rosmadec St Aloüarn, on the 74-gun warship ''Espérance''. In November 1755, as it returned from a campaign off Canada, ''Espérance'' was attacked and captured by and . St Aloüarn and his uncle became prisoners of war and were held in England for two years, before they were returned to France. Because of his bravery under fire, St Aloüarn was promoted to ensign.

The war continued and St Aloüarn was posted to Martinique on the 74-gun ''Défenseur''. His father and uncle were both killed when the ''Juste'' was destroyed in 1759, at the Battle of The Cardinals (also known as the Battle of Quiberon Bay). During 1759–62, St Aloüarn served in France on smaller vessels and on shore. Between 1762 and 1767, St Aloüarn served on the 116-gun '' Royal Louis'' and the frigate ''Infidèle'', at Martinique and Brest. He was promoted in 1763 to lieutenant. St Aloüarn took command of the storeship ''Ecluse'' in 1767, followed by the ''Aber Wrac'h'' in 1770.

In 1761, he married Marie Jeanne Corentine Drouallen, with whom he had a daughter and three sons.Godard 1999, p. 8; Stanbury 1999, p. 5. He was a Freemason, member of the Loge ''Parfaite Union'' of Quimper.

Career as an explorer

In 1771, shortly after the death of his wife,Godard 1999, p. 8. St Aloüarn was approached by a colleague, Yves de Kerguelen, who asked him join an expedition to New Holland. This reflected a broader French drive to annex territories adjoining the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Kerguelen and St Aloüarn first travelled to Port Louis, Isle de France (now Mauritius). On 30 April 1771, they left Port Louis in two small vessels: Kerguelen on board the 24-gun fluyt ''Fortune'' and St Aloüarn commanding the 16-gun storeship ''Gros Ventre''.

On 11 February 1772, in the southern Indian Ocean, the expedition sighted a large mountainous island that Kerguelen took for Australia. (The island was later named after him.) The two ships lost sight of each other during bad weather. After a party from ''Fortune'' had made a brief visit to the island, Kerguelen returned to France.

After also landing a party on the island, St Aloüarn continued towards Australia and a rendezvous point at Cape Leeuwin, arranged earlier with Kerguelen.Godard 1999, p. 9. On 17 March he arrived off a bay (later Flinders Bay), near the cape. With no sign of Kerguelen, St Aloüarn followed the coast northward.

At ''Baie de Prise de Possession'' ("Bay of Taking Possession"; later Turtle Bay), Dirk Hartog Island on 30 March 1772, Officer Jean Mengaud de la Hage became the first European to formally claim possession of Western Australia, on behalf of King Louis XV whilst St Aloüarn himself remained aboard the ship. It means that the honour of the claim on behalf of the king goes to Mengaud, rather than St Aloüarn. Members of Mengaud's ceremonial team raised the white ensign on the island and buried a bottle containing a document stating what had occurred, alongside two silver ''écu'' coins, worth six ''Livres tournois'' (Francs).Stanbury 1998. This occurred in sight of Cape Inscription, where in 1696 the Dutch mariner Willem de Vlamingh had also left a commemorative plate recording his visit and that of Dirk Hartog in 1616.

Aftermath

By the time of the annexation, many of the crew of ''Gros Ventre'' were exhausted and suffering from scurvy. St Aloüarn made for Portuguese Timor, where he and his crew recuperated for a short period. ''Gros Ventre'' then visited Batavia (Jakarta) in the Dutch East Indies, where St Aloüarn and some of his crew contracted "tropical diseases". On 5 September, they arrived at Port Louis, where they had been given up as lost. St Aloüarn was hospitalised and dictated a letter to Kerguelen, advising that he had taken possession of western New Holland. St Aloüarn failed to recover from his illness and died on 27 October.

In 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip established a British colony on the east coast of Australia, at Sydney. However, other French expeditions followed St Aloüarn to Western Australia. In 1792, Antoine Bruni d'Entrecasteaux named the St Alouarn Islands, south east of Cape Leeuwin after St Aloüarn. In 1800, Nicolas Baudin was the first to map the Western coast and a part of the Southern coast of Australia.

By 1826, following an expedition to the south coast of Western Australia by Jules Dumont d'Urville, British authorities were seeking to forestall French settlement in Australia. A British Army force, under Major Edmund Lockyer, was despatched from Sydney, establishing a permanent British settlement at King George Sound, named Frederick Town (or Frederickstown), later known as Albany.

Searches for the annexation site

During the late 20th century, historian Leslie Marchant, one of whose specialities was the French exploration of Australia, and others, led expeditions that attempted to find the site of St Aloüarn's proclamation. However, the site was not located until January 1998, when an expedition, led by amateur archaeologists Philippe Godard and Max Cramer, visited Dirk Hartog Island and located an ''écu'' coin in a lead capsule, at Turtle Bay. The site was inspected and the find confirmed by staff of the Western Australian Maritime Museum.

Searches continued for a bottle reportedly buried by St Aloüarn's crew, containing a document proclaiming France's annexation of Western Australia. In April 1998, a WA Maritime Museum expedition, including archaeologists and remote sensing specialists, located a bottle, capped with a lead seal surrounding another ''écu''; however, the bottle contained only sand. A comprehensive excavation of the site failed to locate any further artefacts.

There is anecdotal evidence that the proclamation was found decades earlier by a stock worker, was kept at the homestead of a sheep station operating on Dirk Hartog Island at the time and was later destroyed by fire.McCarthy, M., 2006. op. cit &

The proclamation site was later protected by law and a commemorative plaque was placed at the spot.

See also

* European and American voyages of scientific exploration

Footnotes

Bibliography

*
* John Dunmore, ''French Explorers in the Pacific. I., The Eighteenth Century'', Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1965.

Philippe Godard, "The Saint Alouarn discoveries" [article], ''Quarterly Newsletter: The Australian Association for Maritime History'', No. 77, December 1999.
Access date: 6 July 2010.
* Philippe Godard & Tugdual de Kerros, ''Louis de Saint Aloüarn: lieutenant des vaisseaux du roy: un marin breton à la conquête des terres australes'', Saint-Jacques-de-la-Lande, Portes du larges, 2002.
* Philippe Godard, Tugdual de Kerros, Sue Baxter, Odette Margot & Myra Stanbury, '' 1772 – The French Annexation of New Holland: The Tale of Louis de Saint Alouarn'', Fremantle, Western Australian Maritime Museum, 2009.
* Leslie Marchant, ''France Australe'', Perth, Artlook Books, 1982.

Mike McCarthy, ''Disturbances at the French Annexation site on Dirk Hartog Island: a report in readiness for the 2006 fieldwork'' (monograph) Fremantle, Western Australian Maritime Museum, 2006.
Access date: 6 July 2010.

Myra Stanbury, ''France And Australia: The "Prise De Possession"'' (web page), Western Australian Maritime Museum, 1998.

Myra Stanbury, ''De Saint Aloüarn and the French Annexation of Western Australia, 1772'' (monograph) Fremantle, Western Australian Maritime Museum, 1999.
Access date: 6 July 2010.


Access date: 6 July 2010.

{{DEFAULTSORT:St Alouarn, Louis Aleno De
1738 births
1772 deaths
French explorers
French Navy officers
French navigators
Maritime exploration of Australia
People from Finistère