MEMOIR OF C. F. BEAUTEMPS -BEAUPRE. 127 



till 1808, was a work of prolonged cxecutiou, but tlie co-operation wliich lie 

 gave it did not engross liim exclusively, and from tlie 20tli July, 1799, to the 

 26tli June, 1804, he was charged in'chief with making the hydrographic survey 

 of the course of the Scheldt, and with a succession of other hydrographic mis- 

 sions relative either to the Scheldt or to the coasts of the North sea. 



Admiral Rosily, director of the depot of marine, being designated at the end 

 of the campaign of 1802 to make an inspection of these labors, informed himself 

 of the methods followed by M. Beautemps-Beaupre, as well in fixing the posi- 

 tions of shoals and of soundings as in the construction of the plan. He gave 

 bis complete approbation to these methods, which consisted essentially in the 

 combination of the accurate measurement of angles by means of the circle of 

 reflection, with the employment of the geometric principle of the " problem of 

 three points," a combination Avhose application to submarine topography is one 

 of the best titles of M. Beautemps-Beaupre to the respectful consideration of 

 bydrographers. 



In 1804 the Nautical Description of the Coast of the North S>eafrom Calais 

 to Ostend was published under the auspices of the depot of marine. This work 

 gives in detail the description of the shoals which obstruct the port of Dunkirk, 

 and of those which are comprised between Dunkirk and the entrance of the 

 Scheldt, as well as the nautical instructions necessary for mariners who frequent 

 those shores. The chart which accompanies it was reproduced at the hydro- 

 graphical office of London, with an English title, as having been executed by 

 Admiral Beautemps-Beaupre ; for the English were not slow in ascertaining, 

 though a little vaguely, that under that name there existed a hydrographer 

 Avorthy of the highest confidence. In the following years M. Beautemps- 

 Beaupre explored the course of the Scheldt, till then but little studied, and, for 

 the first time, demonstrated the practicability of the ascent of that river by 

 ships-of-the-line as high as Antwerp, an indication which furnished a basis for 

 the plans of the Emperor at that point. Charts of minute detail embody the 

 results of these labors, before the termination of which M. Beautemps-Beaupre 

 was advanced in his position as hydrographical engineer and ofticer of the 

 marine, and was named (August 5, 1804) a member of the legion of honor. He 

 had by this time, indeed, become pre-eminently the hydrographer of the Em- 

 peror Napoleon. The latter, when a city or department required an important 

 and difficult construction, was accustomed to say : " I will stnd Prony thither." 

 When the matter in hand was the elaboration of one of those great projects 

 which he had so justly at heart for the re-establishment of our maritime power, 

 he sent, without saying anything, M. Beautemps-Beaupre. 



After the campaign of Austerlitz and the peace of Presburg, the views of 

 the Emperor were turned towards the coasts of Dalmatia, of which the numerous 

 inlets and islands, Avith their steep banks and deep channels, present magnifi- 

 cent harbors, equally sheltered from the wind and the enemy, and of great 

 importance to the Venetian marine. M. Beautemps-Beaupre received (February 

 6, 180G) an order to make the hydrographic survey of the military ports on the 

 east shore of the Gulf of Venice. To this object he devoted three campaigns, 

 in 1806, 1808, and 1809. He took plans of the Avhole coast from Trieste to the 

 mouths of the Cattaro, embracing the port af Pola, and the still more magnifi- 

 cent one of Calamota, near Ragusa. The plans and surveys of coasts Avhich 

 he executed have been published on a reduced scale, but the admirably drawn 

 originals remain one of the ornaments of the depot of marine. 



After the battle of Wagram he was sent by General Maureillan, governor of 

 Zara, to the headquarters of the French army at Vienna, as bearer of a conven- 

 tion of armistice relative to Dalmatia. Pie received, on this occasion, from the 

 band of the Emperor, the decoration of the iron crown. Being ordered to 

 report himself," with his charts, to the minister of marine at Paris, he had 

 scarcely arrived at that city when he was named member of a commission 



