MEMOIR OF C. F. BEAUTEMPS-BEAUPEE. 119 



temps-Bcauprd obtained the favor of accompanying the expedition. He Avas 

 assigned, Jnly 31, 1791, under the tiile of first liydrographical engineer, to 

 the frigate la Recherche, commanded by the admiral in person, and reported 

 himself at Brest, Avhither he had repaired in company with M. de la Billardiere, 

 the botanist of the expedition, and destined himself also to become a member 

 of this Academy. 



The two vessels sailed September 29, 1791, at which time Beaupre was 

 twenty-five years of age. By his labors during six years in the compilation 

 of the Neptune of the Baltic sea, he had thus early become an experienced 

 chartographer, and the expedition now departing oflered the happiest occasion 

 for the application of his talents in this line ; for the admiral, being about to 

 explore with great minuteness all the coasts where traces of la Perouse might 

 be expected to be found, had received orders to determine at the same time their 

 hydrography Avith all possible compactness. 



After having doubled the Cape of Good Hope, the expedition passed in 

 sight of the isle of* Amsterdam, coasted at a distance the southern shores of 

 New Holland, and came to anchor towards the southeast point of Van Die- 

 men's Land, at the then desert entrance of the river on which now stands the 

 city of HobarttoAvn. It next penetrated into the Pacific ocean, followed the 

 western coast of New Caledonia and the northern of New Guinea, passed to 

 the uorthAvest of Amboyna and Timoi', to the west of New Holland, explored 

 m detail the sotitli coast of that vast region, and, after having thus made its 

 entire circuit, again cast anchor, January 21, 1793, in the soiTth part of Van 

 Diemen's Land. 



Having completed, during the finest month of the austral summer, import- 

 ant hydrographical labors commenced the previous year, and particularly the 

 survey of the straits of d'Entrec^astcaux, which separate the isle of Bruny from 

 the main land, the expedition again sailed, Febrnar}^ 27, and passed anew into 

 the wide Pacific. Directing its course towards all the points where la Perouse 

 could be supposed to have touched or to have been driven, after his departure 

 from Botany Bay five years before, the expedition visited Tongataboo, one of 

 the Friendly islands, and once more shaped its course towards New Caledonia, 

 which was now reached from the northwest. Some idea of the incidents and 

 perils of these courses may be conveyed by a few passages of the admiral's 

 narrative: "On the eve of our arrival at New Caledonia, April 17, 1793, it 

 blew a hard gale ; the atmosphere was thick, but not so dark as to induce me 

 to lose a night oft' thu Cape. I gave orders to proceed under easy sail. About 

 three in the morning it grew very dark, and tko cries of numerous birds Avere 

 heard near the frigate, an almost certain indication at that hour, of the neighbor- 

 hood of land. Although day was not far oft', M. Merite, ofiicer of the Avatch, 

 prudently decided to bring to, and scarcely had objects become distinguishable, 

 Avhen a Ioav coast presented itself to \-iew ; an instant after it Avas discovered 

 to be surrounded Avith breakers on AA'hich avb should certainly have struck but 

 for the precaution just mentioned; for Ave had been making tAvo leagues an 

 hour under topsails alone, closely reefed. This dangerous ledge was recon- 

 noitred, and a special draught of it carefully executed. Its length from north 

 to south is from nine to elcA'cn miles, and its breadth, east and Avest, sca'cu to 

 eight. We saAV to the east of this reef tAvo small Avooded islands, Avith a third 

 larger midAvay betAveen them : these Ave have named the Beaupre islu?ids.'"* 



* The claims of M. Beautemps-Beaupre to a distiuction of tbis kiud Avere iucicleutally 

 recognized by the distinguished and lamented explorer. Sir John Franklin. Being on a visit 

 to Palis, just before his departure on the expedition Avhich was destined to so fatal a result, 

 he called on M. Beautemps-Beaupre, and, speaking of Van Diemen's Laud, of which Sir 

 John had been goA'eriior, learned from the lips of our colleague that the latter had been the 

 first explorer of the site on which noAV rises Hobarttown, the capital of the island. "How 



