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Jules-Sébastien-César
Dumont d'Urville was born in 1790 in the fruit-growing
region of Calvados. By the age of 17 he was accepted into
the French Navy and graduated at the top of his class of
1811 attaining the rank of ensign three years later. He had
many interests and spoke fluently the English, German,
Spanish, Greek, Italian and Hebrew languages. He studied
astronomy, geology, entomology and botany. In late
1819, d'Urville was on a voyage to chart areas of the Black
Sea and eastern Mediterranean aboard the Chevrette
when, during a survey of the Mirtoan Sea, the ship anchored
off the island of Mílos. During a conversation with
the French consular official on the island, d'Urville
learned of a statue recently unearthed on the island. He
visited the site and was overwhelmed by the beauty of the
artwork whereupon d'Urville immediately wrote the French
government pleading for them to purchase the statue. The
government authorities responded quickly and instructed him
to purchase the statue 'for whatever it might cost'. It now
stands in the Louvre Museum in Paris...the Venus de Milo.
King Charles X rewarded d'Urville with the Cross of St.
Louis and promoted him to Lieutenant de
Vaisseau. August
1822 found d'Urville serving aboard the Coquille on a
hydrographic and botanical research expedition to the
Gilbert and Caroline Islands, Tahiti, the Falkland Islands
and a part of Western Australia then known as New Holland.
After 31 months and 13 days, they returned with numerous
charts, maps, sketches, specimens and samples. Upon their
return, d'Urville submitted a plan for further research in
the southern ocean. Promising new discoveries and improved
hydrographic methods enabling safer passages in foreign
waters, his plan was approved in December 1825. On April 22,
1826 d'Urville departed Toulon on the Astrolabe
(formerly the Coquille) with his second-in-command
Charles Hector Jacquinot. This proved to be his second
successful circumnavigation of the world. Among his
accomplishments were the discovery of the Fijian islands of
Matuku and Totoya, successful charting of the Loyalty
Islands, surveying of the New Zealand coastline and mapping
and exploration of the Tongas and Moluccas. The records were
so detailed that for the first time the scattered islands
could be divided into three major groups: Melanesia,
Polynesia and Micronesia. The Astrolabe returned to
France on March 25, 1829. Upon his
return, d'Urville was accused of arrogance and self-seeking,
of treating his crew harshly and a willingness to exaggerate
his findings. Whether true or not, he nevertheless was
desk-bound, without a command, for the next seven years.
Suddenly in early 1837, d'Urville submitted a plan to the
navy for another voyage of exploration to the Pacific
islands, this time approaching them via the Straits of
Magellan. King Louis-Philippe was interested in expanding
France's presence in the southern seas; he was aware of the
immense accomplishments of England's James
Weddell in 1823 as well as
America's interest in Antarctica and so his request was
accepted. d'Urville only requested one ship but the King
gave him two: the Astrolabe with 17 officers and 85
men and the Zélée with 81 officers and
men. He was instructed to take them through the Straits of
Magellan, across to Pitcairn Island, the Fijis, and the
Solomons. From there he was to sail along the northern coast
of New Guinea, then to Western Australia, Tasmania and New
Zealand. But....first he would have to sail to the South
Shetlands and then south 'as far as the ice
permits'. The men
were selected for his voyage and promised a bonus of 100
gold francs if they reached the 75th parallel, which was
beyond Weddell's southing. An extra 20 francs were promised
for each degree further south. On September 7, 1837, the
ships departed Toulon. At the end of the month they were
anchored at Tenerife in the Canary Islands. By October 7,
d'Urville had to cancel shore leave due to the problems
caused by the drunkenness of his men. Troubled by Atlantic
fog, the ships were still north of the Straits of Magellan
on December 10. Christmas was spent in the straits where the
crew fished, hunted wild geese and prepared the ships for
the brutality of the southern oceans. On January 8, 1838, d'Urville led the
ships out of the straits and south along the coast of Tierra
del Fuego. Four days later found them in a sea of wilderness
running east-southeast into freezing fog and rain. It was
not much longer when the first ice was spotted and by
January 31 d'Urville was encouraged to find himself
following Weddell's route. Unfortunately, the weather
encountered by Weddell in 1823 was extraordinarily mild in
comparison to the weather bestowed upon d'Urville's ships in
1828. On the night of January 21-22, d'Urville was suddenly
awakened by a frightened crew. As he hurried on deck, there
before him was a low wall of ice stretching across the
horizon. With no alternative, they turned north and by
January 24 it was determined they had been forced so far to
the north that it would be impossible to attain what Weddell
had achieved. The ships turned for the South Orkneys for a
few day's rest. Depressed by his failure, while
suffering from gout and migraine, d'Urville was suspicious
of Weddell's claim to the penetration so far to the south.
He wrote bitterly of his time in the South Orkneys: 'Nothing
anywhere in the world could be more gloomy and more
repulsive than the aspect of these desolate regions'. On
February 2, 1838, the ships were once again sailing
southwards in search of Antarctica. Within 48 hours they
came upon another icefield. With raised spirits, d'Urville
followed it westwards and entered an inlet in the ice with
Jacquinot, on the Zélée close behind.
Although a brave attempt, it was foolhardy as during the
night he heard the ice crack and crunch and by morning the
channel had closed behind the ships. Working
frantically to free the Astrolabe Continuing
westward, the ships reached the South Shetland Islands on
February 27. A coastline was observed stretching to the
south so d'Urville claimed the territory for his king and
country, naming it Louis-Philippe Land; the coastline which
extended eastwards was called Joinville Land. The
ships remained in the area until early March. They mapped
and charted the northern area of what is known today as
Graham Land. The surgeon on board the Astrolabe
informed d'Urville of crewmen showing signs of scurvy.
Concealing this fact so as not to alarm the other crew
members, d'Urville accepted their fate and began a long,
slow journey towards Chile. By March 27 there were 21
confirmed cases of scurvy aboard the Astrolabe, while
the Zélée resembled a floating
hospital. On April 1 crew member Lepreux died. The
hydrographer, Dumoulin, and the Astrolabe's second
officer, Demas, both became ill with the disease. The ships
reached the port of Talcahuano in Chile on April 6. Even
though the epidemic had been contained on the
Astrolabe, there were 38 cases of scurvy on the
Zélée. Dumont d'Urville had demanded
too much of his men and subsequently nine men deserted him
in Talcahuano. Others too sick to travel were left behind as
d'Urville continued on to Valparaiso. It was here that
d'Urville learned that his struggles and accomplishments
were deemed a failure by his critics. He was eventually able
to convince them otherwise as he displayed the ship's
records, charts and geological specimens he had
obtained. Between
May 1838 and October 1839 d'Urville led the Astrolabe
and Zélée on an exploring adventure
across the breadth of the Pacific Ocean. The scurvy suffered
in southern waters was now replaced with fever and dysentery
which cost the lives of 14 men and officers during the
voyage. Another six died in Hobart, Tasmania which was his
departure point for his third attempt at reaching the
Antarctic mainland. On
January 2, 1840 the ships were headed out to sea. Within a
week, the surgeons reported a total of 16 men ill with
seasickness due to the constant rolling of the seas. By
January 18th they crossed the 64th parallel. At 6 o'clock
the following morning the lookouts counted half a dozen huge
icebergs nearby. By 6 o'clock that evening they were
surrounded by at least 59. The hydrographer, Dumoulin,
climbed the rigging of the Astrolabe and reported 'an
appearance of land'. The belief that land was near raised
the spirits of all those aboard. At 9 o'clock the sun was
still above the horizon and at 10:50 pm d'Urville wrote that
the sun disappeared 'and showed up the raised contour of
land in all its sharpness. Everyone had come together on to
the deck to enjoy the magnificent spectacle'. On January 20
d'Urville wrote '...before us rose the land; one could
distinguish the details of it...Unfortunately an unbroken
calm prevented us from approaching it to make the matter
certain. Nevertheless, joy reigned on board; henceforth the
success of our enterprise was assured'. Despite a light breeze, by the middle
of the following day they were within four miles of land.
Showing no signs of a safe place to go ashore, they turned
west, following the coast, until 6 pm when a boat was
lowered so that Dumoulin could take sightings from one of
the icebergs. Another boat was launched from the
Zèlée and by 9 pm the two boats reached
an islet only a few hundred yards off the coast. The
officers and men struggled ashore, shoving aside penguins in
the process, and planted a flag claiming the land in the
name of France. The men then set about exploring the islet,
searching for any life. They unfortunately found nothing but
a few chips of granite which was enough to prove that they
had landed on firm ground rather than an iceberg. Recording
the landing and departure, officer
Joseph-Fidéle-Eugéne Dobouzet wrote '...We
saluted our discovery with a general hurrah...The echoes of
these silent regions, for the first time disturbed by human
voices, repeated our cries and then returned to their
habitual silence'. The boats rowed back to their respective
ships and Dumont d'Urville promptly named the mainland Terre
Adélie after his wife's name. The wide stretch of
water along its shore is now known as the Dumont d'Urville
Sea. Radio QSL
Card - Contact With Base Dumont
d'Urville Dumont
d'Urville spent eight more months exploring southern waters.
He returned to Hobart, sailed on to New Zealand, turned
north to New Guinea and Timor, north again to St. Helena
Island and on November 6, 1840, the two ships entered the
harbor at Toulon. They had been away three years and two
months. Upon his
arrival, d'Urville was promoted to the rank of rear admiral.
The Geographical Society awarded him their highest honor,
the Gold Medallion. Jacquinot and Dumoulin were also
promoted. The French government was so delighted with their
accomplishments that they shared 15,000 gold francs among
the 130 survivors of the expedition. In 1842,
while with his wife and son, d'Urville was killed in a train
accident near Versailles.
On January 20,
1840 Captain Dumont d'Urville was exploring the same seas as
the United States Exploring Expedition when he and his crew
sighted land about a hundred miles west of the first
position reported by Senior
Commander Wilkes of the USEE
four days before. A landing party went ashore on a small,
rock-covered island near the ice cliff and planted the
French flag thus assuming possession of the region on
January 22. The claim extends from the coastline for
approximately 135 miles between the 142nd and 137th east
meridians extending inland all the way to the South Pole. A
voyage of world circumnavigation, the French naval
expedition of 1837-40, commanded by d'Urville on the
Astrolabe and Jacquinot on the
Zélée visited the South Orkney Islands,
South Shetland Islands, the northwest coast of Trinity
Peninsula, Orléans Channel and Joinville Island. Here
is their story.
"We
then had to use every means at our disposal. Men climbed
down onto the ice to tie ropes to the floes...those who
remained on board hauled on them to move painfully forward,
while others tried to push the ice aside with picks, pincers
and pickaxes...Seeing our two ships, one thought of two
crayfish stranded by the tide on a beach full of
stones...and struggling to regain the open sea". It took
five days to bust free from the ice-filled lake. During the
process a number of the crew suffered from frostbite,
including all three surgeons. Eventually they landed on
Weddell Island where they hunted for fresh meat, killing and
eating penguins which they compared favorably with
chicken.
Almost immediately the weather turned brutal with
temperatures dropping to below freezing and whirlwinds of
snow surrounding the ships. In the confusion, the
Astrolabe lost contact with the
Zélée creating intense fear among the
crewmembers of being driven into an iceberg or on top of the
icepack itself. The Astrolable struggled in seas with
waves spilling over onto her decks causing her to heel over
at such an angle that the leeward battery was almost
entirely covered by the sea. By January 29 the ships were
moving rapidly southwest with only a few icebergs in sight.
A little after 4 o'clock in the afternoon a very surprised
lookout spotted an approaching ship closing fast. The
westbound vessel was the Porpoise, the American ship
of the United States Exploring Expedition commanded by
Charles Wilkes. No signals were exchanged and no greetings
exchanged. The Porpoise sailed quickly to the west
while the Astrolabe headed north.