Edward Duyker - An Officer of the Blue: Marc-Joseph Marion Dufresne, South Sea Explorer 1724–1772 (Miegunyah Press Series)

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An
Officer
of the
Blue

First published 1994

Designed by Judith Summerfeldt

Typeset in 10 point New Baskerville by

Bookset Pty Ltd, North Melbourne, Victoria

Printed in Australia by

Brown Prior Anderson, Burwood, Victoria for

Melbourne University Press, Carlton, Victoria 3053

U.S.A. and Canada: International Specialized Book Services, Inc.,

5804 N.E. Hassalo Street, Portland, Oregon 972133644

United Kingdom and Europe: University College London Press,

Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT

This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. Enquiries should be made to the publisher.

Edward Adrian Joseph Duyker 1994

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry

Duyker, Edward, 1955 .

An officer of the blue: Marc-Joseph Marion Dufresne, 17241772.

Bibliography.

Includes index.

ISBN 0 522 84565 7.

1. Dufresne, Marc-Joseph Marion, 17241772. 2. ExplorersFranceBiography. 3. SeamenFranceBiography. 4. TasmaniaDiscovery and explorationFrench. 5. New ZealandDiscovery and explorationFrench. I. Title.

910.92

for Susan

Foreword

Thirty-two years separated the major exploring voyages of Cook and Flinders on the coasts of Australia. During that time five French expeditions visited these shores. In March 1772, two years after Cook had examined the east coast, two Frenchmen were ashore at opposite ends of the island continent, on territory not seen by Cook. Their voyages, both begun at the French colony of Mauritius, had been planned without knowledge of Cooks discovery. Saint-Allouarn, at Shark Bay, had buried a parchment claiming possession of Australias western coast. On the east coast of Tasmania, Marion Dufresne was making the first European contact with the Aborigines of that island, at Marion Bay. The countrymen who were to succeed these explorers were La Prouse (1788), dEntrecasteaux (1792 and 1793), and Baudin (18011803).

Marions ten-week sojourn in New Zealand occurred only two-and-a-half years after the visits of Cook and Marions countryman de Surville. The expeditions records are a rich source of information on Maori lore prior to European settlement, and of clues about a historical tragedy that has led to continuing speculation.

To Australian readers, and no doubt to New Zealand readers too, Edward Duykers biography of Marion Dufresne will be a reminder, or a revelation, of the international context in which the English explorations of their homelands took place. In this it builds on the foundation laid by John Dunmores French Explorers in the Pacific and Oscar Spates trilogy The Pacific Since Magellan . To all readers it will, like every good historical biography, illuminate the times through which its subject livedin this case the maritime world of eighteenth-century France.

Marions seagoing career began when he was eleven and continued for thirty-seven years, spanning two major wars and equipping him with the skills, experience and interests that fitted him for his last great maritime enterprise. At various times in command of corsairs, naval vessels and merchant ships, he took part not only in convoys, naval engagements, trading voyages and raids on enemy merchantmen but also in a number of special assignments and personal enterprises well out of the usual line of duty. One of the most remarkable was his command, at twenty-two, of the ship that rescued the Young Pretender from Scotland in 1746. The reputation he acquired, during his long career, as a most reliable and resourceful mariner no doubt made him one of the examples that were to encourage the gradual relaxation of the frustrating class barriers faced by officers of the blue in the navy of eighteenth-century France.

One wonders, had he survived his voyage to Australia and the Pacific, what he might have achieved in the great age of French maritime exploration that lay ahead, planned and overseen by Fleurieu, de Castries and Louis XVI, and opening up when the next war, the War of American Independence, was over.

The achievement of Edward Duyker goes well beyond writing an absorbing narrative, though his success in that respect is obvious. He has had to assemble a mass of information, both primary and secondary, from many countries and very diverse sources. Unlike most French exploring captains, Marion served only intermittently in the navy, whose archives therefore record only part of his career; and no personal account of his final voyage has been found. In filling the gaps Dr Duyker has brought to light a remarkable amount of fascinating detail, and little of the subjects career seems left to be surmised. This biography is a notable addition to the maritime history of France, New Zealand and Australia.

Frank Horner

Contents

Appendices:

Illustrations

Those not attributed are in the authors collection.

Plates

between pages 14 and 15

Le Port de Saint Malo , by Nicolas Ozanne

Bibliothque Nationale, Paris

Detail of the Htel Marion Dufresne, Saint Malo

Michel Josseaume

Detail of the Htel Marion Dufresne, photograph by Jules Robuchon

Detail from The Death of Marion Dufresne , by Charles Mryon

Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington

The cross of the military order of Saint Louis

Reconstruction of the Du Teillay , by Harold Wyllie

National Trust of Scotland, Edinburgh

Bonnie Prince Charlie landing at Moidart, anon.

Scottish National Portrait Gallery

Kilbride House, South Uist

John and Christine Reynolds

Surviving gates of Kilbride House

Prince de Conty and Heureux rescuing Bonnie Prince Charlie

Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh

Loch nan Uamh

Roscoff, on the coast of Brittany

Le Port de Lorient , by Nicolas Ozanne

Bibliothque Nationale, Paris

Lochaber No More , by John Blake Macdonald

Dundee Art Galleries and Museums

Lord Ansons Victory , by Samuel Scott

National Maritime Museum, Greenwich

Battle of Quiberon Bay , by Richard Wright

National Maritime Museum, Greenwich

Ile de Gore , by Barthlemy Lauvergne

Rex Nan Kivell Collection, National Library of Australia

Eglise des Pamplemousses, lIsle de France , by Edmond Paris

Rex Nan Kivell Collection, National Library of Australia

Bertrand Franois Mah de La Bourdonnais, artist unknown

His Excellency the President, Republic of Mauritius

Pierre Poivre, artist unknown

His Excellency the President, Republic of Mauritius

Louis XV, by Franois-Hubert Drouais

Palais de Versailles

Charles Henry Louis dArsac, Chevalier de Ternay

Marquis de Ternay

Le Due dAiguillon , artist unknown

Bibliothque Nationale, Paris

Alexandre Gui Pingr, by dHautecombe

Bibliothque Sainte Genevive, Paris

Marions tortoise

Linnean Society of London

Detail from Guillaume Delisles map of the Southern Hemisphere

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