Documents relating to Louis and Rose de Freycinet, 1802-1927 [manuscript].

Documents relating to Louis and Rose de Freycinet, 1802-1927 [manuscript]

Call Number

MS 10124

Created/Published

[1802-1927]

Extent

2.30 m. (2 fol. boxes) + 1 map folio.

Items

4

Scope and Content

MS 10124 comprises six items relating to Louis Claude de Saulces de Freycinet and Rose de Freycinet. (1) Manuscript transcription of the complete version of the journal of Rose de Freycinet, kept during her voyage onboard L'Uranie, 1817-1820, transcribed by Charles Duplomb, with corrections by Baron Charles de Freycinet, Paris, 1925-1927. The transcription is of significance because the full version of Rose de Freycinet's journal has never been published. (2) A copy of Journal de Madame Rose de Freycinet d'après le manuscrit original, accompagné de notes par Charles Duplomb, Directeur Honoraire au Ministere de la Marin (Paris: Société d'éditions géographiques, maritimes et coloniales, 1927). The Journal comprises extracts from the journal of Rose de Saulces de Freycinet, kept while onboard L'Uranie, 1817-1820, edited by Charles Duplomb. (3) Letter from Rose de Freycinet to her sister-in-law, Madame (Clémentine) de Freycinet, wife of Henri de Saulces de Freycinet, 20 November 1824. (4) Letter from Louis Claude de Saulces de Freycinet to his brother, Henri de Saulces de Freycinet, 30 October 1806. (5) A copy of Récits maritimes ou Lettres inédites de marins français, compiled by Charles Duplomb (Paris: Société d'éditions géographiques, maritimes et coloniales, 1924), which includes a chapter on Rose and Louis Claude de Saulces de Freycinet. (6) Engraved chart of Australia, south-west Pacific and Southeast Asia, annotated by Louis Claude de Saulces de Freycinet, with part of the missing South Australian coastline sketched in pencil, the course of the Swan River marked, the correct form of Cape Leeuwin drawn in and with historical annotations of earlier Dutch voyages along the north-west Australian coast.

Background

Cartographic surveyor and naturalist. In 1800 Louis Claude de Saulces de Freycinet joined an expedition under Nicolas Baudin to explore the south and south-west coasts of Australia in the ships Naturaliste and Geographe. He commanded an expedition to circumnavigate the globe and conduct research into the shape of the Earth, meteorology and terrestrial magnetism, sailing from Toulon in September 1817 in L'Uranie with his wife Rose, who secreted herself aboard. He set up an observatory at Shark Bay and charted the coastal regions in 1818, and sailed for Timor and various parts of the Pacific before landing in Port Jackson late in 1819. L'Uranie was wrecked on the Falkland Islands on the return voyage to France.