Geographe (Le)

Le Carre Hermes > Printemps - Ete 1995

The Geographer

There was a time when geography was at the forefront of science: when it was less a matter of reading maps than of drawing them up in the first place. It was thus that Nicolas Baudin, the French navigator, was sent by the First Consul Bonaparte to discover the "southernmost lands". His mission was to take over the late lamented Captain Cook, killed in the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) in 1779, who had restricted his own explorations to the east coast. History records how he successfully pulled off that venture.

Le Carre Hermes > Automne-Hiver 1992/93

Let us remember Nicolas Baudin, commander of two corvettes. "Le Geographe" and "Le Naturaliste", who was sent by First Consul Bonaparte to investigate Captain Cook's discovery, Australia. In the four corners of the scarf appear Charles Alexandre Lesueur, the expedition's painter; Matthew Flinders, the English captain of "The Investigator", who met up with the French group; Francois Peron, zoologist; and Nicolas Baudin himself, who died in 1803 on the return journey.