Letter from Louis Isidore Duperrey to Louis de Freycinet, sent from Paris, 5 February 1838, enclosing four autograph copies of his letters to Admiral von Krusenstern, 2-18 July 1836

MLMSS 11737

fonds

5 February 1838

9658686

0.01 metres of textual material (1 folder)

Louis Isidore Duperrey (1786-1865) joined the French navy in 1803 and served as ensign on Louis de Freycinet’s L’Uranie from 1817 to 1820. This expedition around the world saw Duperrey take charge of hydrographic activities and he produced valuable observations on the earth’s shape and on terrestrial magnetism, along with numerous charts. After the voyage, Duperrey gave testimony at Louis de Freycinet’s court martial in Paris over the loss of the Uranie. In 1822 Duperrey was given command of the corvette La Coquille on a scientific and geographic expedition to Oceania, during which he named two features of the New Guinea coast after Rose de Freycinet: Pointe Rose and Anse Rose (Rose Cove).

In 1838, Louis de Freycinet (1779-1842) was still writing his account of the Uranie voyage, including the volumes on Terrestrial Magnetism and Meteorology (which were not completed at the time of his death). He maintained a correspondence with former naval colleagues to stay informed of results gathered from their later voyages to the Pacific region.

Adam Johann von Krusenstern [Ivan Fedorovich Kruzenshtern] (1770-1846) was a Russian admiral and explorer, who led the first Russian circumnavigation of the globe, 1803-1806. His geographical discoveries made this voyage very important for the progress of geographical science.

Reference:
Library acquisition file

Autograph letter signed, from Louis Isidore Duperrey to Louis de Freycinet, sent from Paris, 5 February 1838 (4 pages on a single folded sheet, with Archives de Laage stamp: Carton 13, Dossier 276 A)

Duperrey’s intention in writing to Freycinet was to pass on information about a number of discoveries made in the Pacific, particularly by three explorers: Captain Frederick Beechey who made a voyage to the Pacific and the Bering Strait in HMS Blossom in 1825, Friedrich Lütke who made a world cruise in 1829, and Captain James Wilson who conveyed missionaries to Tahiti, Tonga and the Marquesas in the London Missionary Society ship Duff in 1797.

With regard to Lütke, Duperrey draws Freycinet’s attention to the two maps of the Carolines he (Duperrey) drew, one in 1826 and the other, in 1830. The latter, he writes, was an amended and more reliable version of his earlier map and was based on Lütke’s discoveries. Duperrey also mentions a map of the “mouvement des eaux à la surface de la mer dans le Grand Océan austral” which he presented to the Académie des Sciences in 1831. He follows this with a long discussion of ocean currents and their impact on temperatures, concluding with a manuscript table of intensity measures that he recorded in 1824.

In the four enclosed autograph copies of his letters to Krusenstern, Duperrey discusses a number of other matters relating to discoveries in the Pacific:

1. Paris, 2 July 1836. Duperrey contests Lütke’s claim to be the discoverer of Oualan Island in the Carolines, claiming instead that he had previously discovered it in 1821. Nonetheless, Duperrey finishes the letter with two long notes to Freycinet in which he admits to being a great admirer of Lütke. (7 pages numbered 1-4 on 2 folded sheets, with Archives de Laage stamp: Dossier 276 B)

2. Paris, 6 July 1836. Duperrey amends Lütke’s spelling and pronunciation of the names of newly discovered Pacific Islands. “I have to point out that on one occasion [Lütke] used the letter U in front of an island name, and that was Ualan for which I wrote Oualan, for the simple reason that the inhabitants of this island, like those of all Polynesia, can only articulate the letter U, in the French manner, with the greatest difficulty.” (3 pages numbered 5-6 on a single folded sheet, with Archives de Laage stamp: Dossier 276 C)

3. Paris, 18 July 1836. Duperrey corrects Beechey and Krusenstern regarding the island of Clermont-Tonnerre in the Pomotu Archipelago. “As for the island of Clermont-Tonnerre, which we discovered on entering the Pomotou Islands, it was impossible for me to imagine what could have determined Captain Beechey to believe that the island of Minerve was more to be identified with this island than with Serle Islands, which is incomparably closer […].” (8 pages numbered 7-10 on 2 folded sheets, with Archives de Laage stamp: Dossier 276 D)

4. Paris, 18 July 1836. Duperrey points out that in Wilson’s account of his voyage “this navigator, on his way from the Marquesas to the Society Islands, had passed two low lagoon islands that he had taken for Tiokea and Oura islands; […] it is very likely that Wilson had without realising it come across the Waterland Islands that Schouten had in fact already discovered.” (3 pages numbered 11-12 on a single folded sheet, with Archives de Laage stamp: Dossier 276 E)

The documents are enclosed in a wrapper, stamped Archives de Laage Dossier 276 A-E, on which is written a summary of the contents.

Out of copyright:
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