Rare and important: a series of seven letters written by François Barlatier de Mas (1810-1888) during the first two years of Jules Dumont d’Urville’s second grand voyage. The letters were copied and written up for possible publication by his great-cousin, Fernand Barlatier de Mas, Inspector General of Public Works, but never made it into print.
Lieutenant Barlatier de Mas was the third officer on board the corvette l’Astrolabe (after Dumont d’Urville, and Gaston de Rocquemaurel, second-in-command). He was the grandson of the famous captain Paul Barlatier de Mas who serve in the Revolutionary War and later had a permanent seat on the Society of the Cincinnati.
Addressed to his cousin, Marie Elise Barlatier de Mas, née Trappier de Malcolm, the letters run between 27 January 1838 and 15 June 1839. Divided into five parts, they cover 1. Antarctic 2. the Marianas (Guam) 3. Maluku Islands East Indonesia 4. Australia (North Coast) and 5. Sulawesi and Java.
The text alternates between epistolary letter and diary forms. There are annotations in red ink at the bottom of the page or at the beginning of each section which provide additional information or context of the account relative to the voyage.
The first section covers their first foray into the Antarctic and the reconnaissance of the South Orkney Islands on 27 January 1838. He writes of the difficulty navigating the ice and the impossibility of continuing southwards. He describes the damage suffered by the Astrolabe during this time, in particular the loss of its lining, and the pack ice which imprisoned the ship He recorded ice at 39 metres above sea level and saved his Commander from a nasty fall by grabbing his sleeve Of interest, he notes Dumont d’Urville’s pessimism about the future of the expedition, but also describes a seal hunt which he joined. Once the Astrolabe was freed from the ice and resumed the voyage, he narrates the reconnaissance of the Shetland Islands and then Louis-Philippe Land. The De Mas Rocks, named after him, lay off the NW coast of Trinity Peninsula in the approach to Huon Bay - 63°21′S 58°02′W. The voyage took a turn for the worse as the men came down with scurvy. Dumont d’Urville ordered the ships northwards and they reached Conception (Chile) on 6 April 1838.
Although Wilkes and James Clarke Ross weren’t far behind, this was the first major expedition to venture into Antarctic waters since Fabien Bellingshausen in 1819.
The Australian section includes stops at Raffles Bay and Port Essington, both of which are in Arnhem Land on the Coburg Peninsula in the Northern Territory. “Sailing south they anchored in Raffles Bay in Arnhem Land on 27.3.39, called on the British colony at Port Essington and left on 8.4.39 for the Aru Islands, then Dubus Harbour in New Guinea. D’Urville had intended to navigate the Torres Strait from the west, and then make his way to Port Jackson, but his men were weary from the voyage and scurvy had began to re-appear among them” (Howgego).
De Mas’ manuscript includes a wealth of information on the voyage, such as a delighted description of the kargaroo (“le kangaroo est un charmant et gracieux animal”) and on his return an account of the Indigenous Australians he meets back on the Astrolabe. A hunting expedition nets them kangaroo, parrots, oysters, mussels, scallops, potatoes and cabbage. They meet Gordon Bremer, captain of the corvette Alligator and leader of the British colony at Port Essington. On 4 April, they saw eight Malay praos arriving from Macassar to fish for trepang, a mollusc that lives on coral reefs and is widely consumed by the Chinese. The next day, the two ships left Raffles Bay for Port Essington, guided by an English boat. They stayed in this port from 6 to 9 April. On the 7th, the officers were received by Commodore Brener, the founder of the colony. Barlatier provides a description of it, highlighting the important work carried out by the English.
From there, the voyage sailed to New Guinea (during which time the local Papuans captured a runaway officer and brought him back to the ship), and Macassar which was then a Dutch colony in the Célèbes. Barlatier describes the harbour, the port and the European town, which is separated from the Macassan population by gates that are closed at night. The officer describes the Macassans, their clothing and their weapons, and mentions a case of piracy in the Strait of Malacca against an English merchant ship.
On board, two sailors are tried for insubordination; one is sentenced to be hanged and the other to twelve lashes. This led to a souring of relations between Dumont d’Urville and his crew. Indeed, Barlatier states that he will not accept an invitation from the Resident, so as not to be obliged to socialise with Dumont d’Urville outside of work. He then describes a party given by a Chinese man who is marrying off his son, which he attends. His account then goes on to describe the customs of the local people, mainly gambling and opium. While the latter substance stupefies the Chinese, it provokes violent reactions in the Malays. After taking on supplies, the expedition left Macassar on 28 May and arrived in Batavia (Java) on 8 June, after sailing along the coast of Borneo. Barlatier visits the city, which was rebuilt during the French and then British occupation before being returned to the Netherlands in 1815. His journal ends with a long description of Batavia, followed by a letter to his cousin dated 15 June 1839, written on board the Astrolabe.
De Mas joined the navy in 1827 and progressed steadily through the ranks and was made Commander in 1852 and later made an Officer of the Legion of Honor. He is renowned for the large collection of art he collected on this voyage which is held at the Musée de Beaux-Arts de Dunkerque.
The manuscript is accompanied by two other letters between the family and a potential publisher, however that plan never came to fruition and this work remained with the family until very recently. At over two hundred pages, and unknown by Edward Duyker in his landmark biography of Dumont d’Urville, this manuscript is an immense resource for further study on the history of grands voyages, Antarctic exploration, and the Pacific.
Howgego II, D35; Duyker, E., Dumont d’Urville: Explorer and Polymath (Otago, 2014), pp.350-353.
