Freycinet instructions for Vaillant

Commander to commander Louis de Freycinet shapes his instructions for Vaillant and the voyage of the Bonite

Hordern House Occasional Papers

[VAILLANT VOYAGE] FREYCINET, Louis Claude de Saulces de. ‘Note relative à la circumnavigation de la Corvette la Bonite’ [Note relating to Vaillant’s circumnavigation in the Bonite].

Four-page handwritten manuscript on wove paper, 300 x 205 mm., extensively annotated and corrected, some tiny losses to the paper from deterioration of the original iron gall ink but generally excellent, legible and complete; held together with an old hand-made pin.

Paris, circa 1835.

This manuscript is an exceptional survival. Almost uniquely among the substantial archive of Louis de Freycinet’s known papers, it offers a rare and highly revealing view of his methods of composition, preserving with unusual clarity the act of writing rather than its finished result. Prepared during the planning of the Bonite expedition, its four closely written pages are crowded with cancellations, insertions and rewritten passages, allowing us

to watch one of France’s most experienced navigators distil a lifetime of scientific voyaging into instructions for the commander of one of the nation’s last great voyages of circumnavigation. Unlike the polished manuscripts that survive from Freycinet’s extensive scientific writings, this autograph draft derives its significance less from its text than from the evidence of composition preserved on every page.

Prepared in Paris about 1835 while Freycinet served on the scientific commission advising Captain Auguste-Nicolas Vaillant, the manuscript belongs to a period when the aims of maritime exploration were changing. Future voyages would contribute less through geographical discovery than through increasingly precise observation. Freycinet expressed the principle succinctly: « ce ne peut être donc que par des travaux de détail qu’on se rendra désormais utile à la science. » Beneath the revisions a coherent programme gradually emerges, embracing hydrography, astronomy, tides, currents, meteorology, water supplies, marine phenomena and philology.

Although repeatedly revised, its essential structure remained substantially unchanged when published in the Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l’Académie des sciences on 23 November 1835. Its importance lies in recording the visible process by which Freycinet’s instructions assumed their final form. Few surviving documents allow us to observe so directly one of the nineteenth century’s foremost scientific voyagers at work.

The eye is drawn first to the revisions and only afterwards to the text itself. Words are cancelled, passages abandoned, fresh headings inserted in the margins and earlier formulations replaced before the argument resumes in another direction. On the final page an earlier version of the opening section survives beneath heavy cancellation. These revisions constitute the manuscript’s principal historical interest.

The pages record decisions rather than corrections. Freycinet continually reconsiders the order of his subjects, their relative importance and the extent to which practical experience should be translated into instruction. Every cancellation marks a discarded solution; every insertion, a fresh attempt at greater precision. We see an experienced voyager deciding not only what should be observed, but how experience itself should be transmitted.

Beneath these successive revisions a clear structure emerges. Under the heading Navigation et Hydrographie, Freycinet arranges a sequence of observations progressing from surveying and chart-making through astronomy, tides, currents, water supplies and winds before turning to marine phenomena and philological enquiry. Taken together, the headings reveal an increasingly ordered conception of the voyage and the gradual organisation of its scientific programme.

This draft belongs to a moment of transition in French scientific exploration. Freycinet had returned from the circumnavigation of the Uranie more than a decade earlier and had since become one of France’s leading authorities on hydrography and scientific voyaging.

Vaillant, though already an accomplished naval officer, was preparing for his first voyage of exploration. It therefore represents the distillation of one explorer’s experience for the

guidance of a younger commander. Without assuming the tone of a manual, it has something of the character of a senior voyager placing the accumulated lessons of a lifetime at the service of his successor.

That relationship explains both the breadth and the practical character of the instructions.

Freycinet begins by observing that the principal outlines of the globe were already known

and that future voyages would advance science through travaux de détail: the careful accumulation of observations. Surveys, astronomical observations, tides, currents, winds and coastal descriptions all contribute to that purpose. Even the collection of drinking water was intended not merely for chemical examination but to judge its suitability for preserving the health of future crews. His concern was less with gathering isolated facts than with establishing disciplined habits of observation.

Philology forms the concluding section of the draft, another reminder that the voyage’s scientific ambitions extended well beyond navigation. Freycinet recommends the collection of connected speech rather than isolated vocabularies, directing particular attention to several Pacific and African languages, among them Hawaiian, a language in which, as he notes, printed books were already available and whose growing literature he clearly regarded as deserving further study. Language, no less than geography, became an object of disciplined observation.

Throughout these pages practical experience governs scientific enquiry. Freycinet’s concern is not simply to prescribe observations but to establish habits of observation. Surveying, astronomy, tides, winds, water supplies, marine phenomena and language all become parts of a single disciplined programme. More than a set of instructions, these pages reveal the intellectual framework within which one of the nineteenth century’s foremost scientific voyagers believed exploration should henceforth be conducted.

Comparison with the version published in the Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l’Académie des sciences on 23 November 1835 confirms what the manuscript itself already suggests. The sequence of subjects remains substantially unchanged and the differences are largely editorial. Publication regularised the language, improved transitions and gave the document the more formal character expected of an official communication from the Académie. Freycinet’s programme had already reached its mature form; revision was directed principally towards organisation, emphasis and expression.

One heading deserves particular notice. Phosphorescence de la mer, rencontres d’animaux &c. has not been identified in the published hydrographical instructions. Whether the subject was omitted, incorporated elsewhere, or survives in another form cannot yet be determined. Even so, the heading itself is revealing. It shows that Freycinet conceived hydrography in unusually broad terms, extending observation beyond coasts and navigation to embrace the sea itself. Whatever its subsequent fate in print, the manuscript preserves this stage in the evolution of his scientific programme.

Unlike the polished manuscripts that survive elsewhere among Freycinet’s papers, these pages preserve thought in the act of formation. Crossed-out passages, rewritten sentences and changing sequences of headings reveal an experienced navigator selecting, rejecting and reorganising his accumulated knowledge before committing it to an official text.

Seen in this light, the manuscript occupies a distinctive place among the surviving records of nineteenth-century exploration. It is neither a notebook nor a fair copy, but an intermediate document in which accumulated experience is transformed into instruction.

The revisions allow us to observe Louis de Freycinet not simply as the author of a finished text, but in the act of composing it.

Partial transcription: Navigation et Hydrographie Quant aux observations nautiques et hydrographiques qui doivent être faites à bord de la corvette La Bonite, tant sur rade que pendant son séjour à la mer, leur importance dépendra en général de la longueur du temps qu'on pourra y consacrer. Considéré sous des rapports hydrographiques, le globe terrestre est aujourd'hui suffisamment connu dans ses masses principales, ce ne peut être donc que par des travaux de détail qu'on se rendra désormais utile à la science.

[Navigation and Hydrography As for the nautical and hydrographic observations which must be made on board the corvette La Bonite, both in the roadstead and during its stay at sea, their importance will depend in general on the length of time that can be devoted to them. Considered from hydrographic points of view, the terrestrial globe is now sufficiently known in its principal masses, it can therefore only be by detailed work that we will henceforth be useful to science.]

Levée des plans et cartes Les levées des plans de rades et de ports, sont au nombre des travaux qui pourront [être exécutés] avec le plus de facilité. Il est à désirer qu'on fasse aussi l'exploration des îles et des archipels devant lesquels on naviguera et qu'on déterminera rigoureusement la position et caps les plus saillans et les plus remarquables. Des sondes exactes et multipliées ajouteront à l'utilité et au mérite de toutes ces opérations.

[The surveys of the plans of roadsteads and ports are among the works that can be carried out with the greatest ease. It is to be desired that the islands and archipelagos in front of which we will sail will also be explored, and that the most salient and remarkable position and capes will be rigorously determined. Exact and multiplied soundings will add to the usefulness and merit of all these operations.]

Description des terres des pays visités; mouillages A ces détails il conviendra de joindre une description suffisamment circonstanciée des côtes et des terres qu'on aura visitées ; on y parlera des productions du pays et des ressources en tout genre qu'il peut offrir, tant pour le ravitaillement des navires que pour le commerce ; on décrira la manière de venir au mouillage et d'éviter les écueils ; enfin on réunira ce que les mœurs et les coutumes des habitans offrent de plus important et de plus curieux.

[To these details it will be necessary to add a sufficiently detailed description of the coasts and lands that will have been visited; they will talk about the country's productions and the

resources of all kinds that it can offer, both for the provisioning of ships and for trade; we will describe the way to get to anchor and avoid the rocks; finally, we will bring together the most important and curious things that the manners and customs of the inhabitants offer.]

Observations astronomiques Il sera nécessaire également d'observer de nombreuses séries de latitude et de longitude qui puissent servir à fixer, avec la précision que comportent aujourd'hui les méthodes de l'astronomie nautique, la position absolue ou relative de quelques points bien définis.

[It will also be necessary to observe numerous series of latitude and longitude which can serve to fix, with the precision which the methods of nautical astronomy now require, the absolute or relative position of a few well-defined points.]

Marées et courans Il serait intéressant que l'on eut assez de loisirs pour s'occuper de l'observation des marées et de déterminer pendant chaque relâche, l'établissement du port, ainsi que le plus grand et le plus petit marnage de la mer ; l’observation de la force et la direction des courans, à différentes époques de la journée méritent aussi de fixer l’attention.

[It would be interesting if we had enough leisure to occupy ourselves with the observation of the tides and to determine during each break, the establishment of the port, as well as the largest and smallest tidal range of the sea; the observation of the strength and direction of the currents, at different times of the day, also deserve attention.]

Echantillons d’eaux—aiguade aux lieux où l’on fera escale, il conviendra de prendre un échantillon d’environ 1 litre d’eau pour chacune des sources, et de la renfermer dans une bouteille bien bouchée afin qu’on puisse déterminer au retour son degré de pureté et de salubrité qui ne saurait être étrangère à celle de la conservation de la santé de l’équipage.

[At the places where you will stop, it will be advisable to take a sample of about 1 litre of water for each of the springs, and to enclose it in a well-corked bottle so that you can determine on your return its degree of purity and healthiness, which cannot be foreign to that of the preservation of the health of the crew.]

Vents L’étude des vents, de leur fréquence, et de leur force, les dangers auxquels ils exposent les navires ; les époques de l’année ou du jour auxquelles ils soufflent, leurs variations périodiques et leur marche, les prognostics qui les annoncent, leur coïncidence avec le beau et le mauvais temps sont aussi très dignes d’employer les loisirs des marins instruits.

Il est à désirer que les observations de ce genre soient faites avec précision et, autant que possible, heure par heure, afin de pouvoir les rattacher aux faits météorologiques d’un autre genre dont il sera parlé ailleurs.

[The study of the winds, their frequency, and their strength, the dangers to which they expose ships; The seasons of the year or day at which they blow, their periodical variations and their course, the prognostics which announce them, their coincidence with fine and bad weather, are also very worthy of employing the leisure of educated sailors.

It is to be desired that observations of this kind should be made with precision and, as far as possible, hour by hour, in order to be able to relate them to meteorological facts of another kind which will be spoken of elsewhere.]

Phosphorescence de la mer, rencontres d’animaux &c La phosphorescence et la couleur de la mer...

Recherches philologiques La connaissance des langues particulières aux peuples peu connus qui seront visités, est d’une haute importance philologique pour l’histoire de l’homme, pour la science. Il est à désirer que l’on recueille à cet égard tout ce qu’il sera possible de se procurer. On croit devoir rappeler ici que la simple collection de mots réunis en vocabulaire, est de beaucoup moins utile que celle des phrases et des discours suivis ; Pourvu des marques de la prononciation et la traduction.

[The knowledge of the languages peculiar to the little-known peoples who will be visited is of high philological importance for the history of man, for science. It is to be hoped that we collect in this respect all that it will be possible to obtain. It is thought necessary to recall here that the simple collection of words gathered in vocabulary is much less useful than that of sentences and speeches followed; Provided with pronunciation and translation marks.]

On désire particulièrement obtenir des documents sur la langue des habitants des îles Sandwich, qui possède déjà des livres imprimés dans le pays même, sur celles de peuples Tagale et Papangas de l’île Luçon et sur celles enfin des Hottentots du Cap de Bonne Espérance, langue si négligée jusqu’à ce jour, malgré les voyages fréquents des Européens dans cette partie de l’Afrique.

[It is particularly desirable to obtain documents on the language of the inhabitants of the Sandwich Islands, who already possess books printed in the country itself, on those of the Tagale and Papangasan peoples of the island of Luzon, and finally on those of the Hottentots of the Cape of Good Hope, a language so neglected to this day, in spite of the frequent journeys of Europeans to this part of Africa.]

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