Louis Claude de Saulces de Freycinet (7 August 1779 – 18 August 1841) was a French Navy officer. He circumnavigated the earth, and in 1811 published the first map to show a full outline of the coastline of
Australia.
Biography
He was born at
Montélimar
Montélimar (; Vivaro-Alpine: ''Montelaimar'' ; la, Acumum) is a town in the Drôme department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in north Provence, Southeastern France. It is the second-largest city in the department after Valence. In 2018 ...
,
Drôme
Drôme (; Occitan: ''Droma''; Arpitan: ''Drôma'') is the southernmost department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. Named after the river Drôme, it had a population of 516,762 as of 2019. . Louis-Claude de Saulces de Freycinet was his full name (many calling him Louis de Freycinet). He had three brothers, Louis-Henri de Saulces de Freycinet, André-Charles de Saulces de Freycinet and the youngest, Frédéric-Casimir de Saulces de Freycinet (father of
Charles de Freycinet
Charles Louis de Saulces de Freycinet (; 14 November 1828 – 14 May 1923) was a French statesman and four times Prime Minister during the Third Republic. He also served an important term as Minister of War (1888–1893). He belonged to the Opp ...
). Louis-Claude was the second oldest.
In 1793 he joined the French Navy as a midshipman, and took in several engagements against the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
. In 1800, Freycinet was appointed to an exploration expedition to Southern and South-Western coasts of
Australia under
Nicolas Baudin
Nicolas Thomas Baudin (; 17 February 1754 – 16 September 1803) was a French explorer, cartographer, naturalist and hydrographer, most notable for his explorations in Australia and the southern Pacific.
Biography
Early career
Born a comm ...
, on
''Naturaliste'' and
''Géographe''. Freycinet's brother, Louis-Henri de Freycinet, was also part of the expedition.
Between September 1802 and August 1803, Freycinet captained the schooner
''Casuarina'', surveying the Australian coastline. He then transferred to ''Naturaliste'', and returned to France in 1804.
Because
Matthew Flinders was being held captive by the French on
Mauritius
Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It ...
, many of his discoveries were revisited and unintendedly claimed by
François Péron
François Auguste Péron (22 August 1775 – 14 December 1810) was a French naturalist and explorer.
Life
Péron was born in Cérilly, Allier, in 1775, the son of a tailor (not a harness maker as is frequently asserted). Although intended for ...
, and new names were given by this expedition; in 1824 it was remedied in the second edition of ''
Voyage découvertes aux terres australes''. In the end, Baudin and Freycinet managed to have their
map of the Australian coastline published in 1811, three years before Flinders published his. An inlet on the coast of
Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
is called
Freycinet Estuary.
Cape Freycinet between
Cape Leeuwin
Cape Leeuwin is the most south-westerly (but not most southerly) mainland point of the Australian continent, in the state of Western Australia.
Description
A few small islands and rocks, the St Alouarn Islands, extend further in Flinders ...
and
Cape Naturaliste
Cape Naturaliste is a headland in the south western region of Western Australia at the western edge of the Geographe Bay. It is the northernmost point of the Leeuwin-Naturaliste Ridge which was named after the cape. Also the Leeuwin-Naturaliste ...
and the
Freycinet Peninsula with
Freycinet National Park in
Tasmania
)
, nickname =
, image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdi ...
also bear the explorer's name.
![Voyage of Freycinet-P5260010](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Voyage_of_Freycinet-P5260010.JPG)
In 1805, he returned to Paris, and was entrusted by the government with the work of preparing the maps and plans of the expedition. He also completed the narrative, and the whole work appeared under the title of ''Voyage de découvertes aux terres australes'' (Paris, 1807–1816).
The plant genus ''
Freycinetia'' (
Pandanaceae) was named in his honor, as was the
Hawaiian native tree/shrub ''
Santalum
''Santalum'' is a genus of woody flowering plants in the Santalaceae family, the best known and commercially valuable of which is the Indian sandalwood tree, '' S. album''. Members of the genus are trees or shrubs. Most are root parasites w ...
freycinetianum''.
Circumnavigation on ''Uranie''
In 1817, he was given command of the corvette
''Uranie'', especially reconfigured to a new exploration voyage. ''Uranie'' carried several members of the Navy scientific staff, notably marine
hydrologist
Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and environmental watershed sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is calle ...
Louis Isidore Duperrey
Louis-Isidore Duperrey (21 October 1786 – 25 August 1865) was a French naval officer and explorer.
Biography
Early life
Louis-Isidore Duperrey was born in 1786.
Career
He joined the navy in 1802, and served as marine hydrologist to Louis Cl ...
, artist
Jacques Arago
Jacques Étienne Victor Arago (6 March 1790 – 27 November 1855) was a French writer, artist and explorer, author of a ''Voyage Round the World''.
Biography
Jacques was born in Estagel, Pyrénées-Orientales. He was the brother of François Ara ...
, and his junior draughtsman
Adrien Taunay the Younger.
''Uranie'' sailed to
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...
to take a series of pendulum measurements gather information in the fields of
geography
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, an ...
,
ethnology
Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology). ...
,
astronomy
Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, g ...
, terrestrial magnetism,
meteorology
Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did no ...
, and for collecting specimens in natural history. Freycinet also managed to sneak his wife
Rose de Freycinet aboard.
For three years, Freycinet cruised about the Pacific, visiting Australia, the
Mariana Islands,
Hawaiian Islands, and other
Pacific
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...
islands,
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...
, and other places, and, notwithstanding the loss of ''Uranie'' on the
Falkland Islands
The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouze ...
during the return voyage, returned to France with fine collections in all departments of natural history, and with voluminous notes and drawings of the countries visited.
The results of this voyage were published under Freycinet's supervision, with the title of ''Voyage autour du monde fait par ordre du Roi sur les corvettes de S. M. l'Uranie et la Physicienne, pendant les années 1817, 1818, 1819 et 1820'', in 13 quarto volumes and 4 folio volumes of plates and maps.
Freycinet was admitted into the
French Academy of Sciences in 1825, and was one of the founders of the
Paris Geographical Society
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
. He died at the family's château de Freycinet
Château de Freycinet
near Saulce-sur-Rhône, Drôme
Drôme (; Occitan: ''Droma''; Arpitan: ''Drôma'') is the southernmost department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. Named after the river Drôme, it had a population of 516,762 as of 2019. .
Journals of the Voyage 1817-1820
Vol. 1 Part 1: Book I France to Brazil. pub.1827.
Vol. 1 Part 2: Book II Brazil to Timor. pub.1828.
Vol. 2 Part 1: Book III Timor to the Marianas. pub.1829.
Vol. 2 Part 2: Book IV Guam to Hawaii; Book V Hawaii to Port Jackson 1819. pub.1829.
Vol. 2 Part 3: Book V Hawaii to Port Jackson; Book VI Port Jackson to France 1820. pub.1839.
Zoology. pub.1824.
Zoology Plates. pub.1824.
Botany. pub.1826.
Botany Plates. pub.1826.
Navigation and Hydrography, Part 1. pub.1826.
Navigation and Hydrography, Part 2. pub.1826.
Pendulum Observations. pub.1826.
Terrestrial Magnetism. pub.1842.
Meteorology. pub.1844.
See also
* European and American voyages of scientific exploration
The era of European and American voyages of scientific exploration followed the Age of Discovery and were inspired by a new confidence in science and reason that arose in the Age of Enlightenment. Maritime expeditions in the Age of Discovery were ...
*Freycinet Map of 1811 The Freycinet Map of 1811 is the first map of Australia to be published which shows the full outline of Australia. It was drawn by Louis de Freycinet and was an outcome of the Baudin expedition to Australia. It preceded the publication of Matthew Fl ...
Taxon named in his honor
*The Indonesian speckled carpetshark
The Indonesian speckled carpetshark, ''Hemiscyllium freycineti'', is a species of bamboo shark in the family Hemiscylliidae. It is found in the shallow ocean around the Raja Ampat Islands in West Papua, Indonesia, but was formerly believed to be ...
, ''Hemiscyllium freycineti'' is named after him.
Notes and references
Notes
References
Bibliography
*Edward Duyker
Edward Duyker (born 21 March 1955) is an Australian historian, biographer and author born in Melbourne.
Edward Duyker's books include several ethno-histories – ''Tribal Guerrillas'' (1987), ''The Dutch in Australia'' (1987) and ''Of the Star ...
François Péron: An Impetuous Life: Naturalist and Voyager, Miegunyah/MUP, Melb., 2006, ,
* Fornasiero, Jean; Monteath, Peter and West-Sooby, John. ''Encountering Terra Australis: the Australian voyages of Nicholas Baudin and Matthew Flinders'', Kent Town, South Australia, Wakefield Press, 2004.
*Frank Horner, The French Reconnaissance: Baudin in Australia 1801–1803, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1987 .
* Marchant, Leslie R. ''French Napoleonic Placenames of the South West Coast'', Greenwood, WA. R.I.C. Publications, 2004.
* Hordern House, ''Captain Louis de Freycinet and his Voyages to the Terres Australes'', Hordern House, Sydney, 2011
* Rose de Freycinet (patronymic Pinon) and Federico Motta, curator,
Rose de Freycinet. Una viaggiatrice clandestina a bordo dell'Uranie negli anni 1817-20
'' Verona, Giugno 2017. Translation of Rose original Journal, fully annotated with new documents and with a comprehensive revision of Louis de Freycinet travel,
*
* Rare Freycinet map. ''Ile Decrès'', or Kangaroo Island, 1803, held by the Royal Geographical Society of South Australi
{{DEFAULTSORT:Freycinet, Louis de
1779 births
1841 deaths
People from Montélimar
French explorers
French explorers of the Pacific
Explorers of Western Australia
Members of the French Academy of Sciences
French military personnel of the Napoleonic Wars
French military personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars