Bruni d'Entrecasteaux
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[[Image:Encastreaux.jpg|thumb|Antoine Raymond Joseph de Bruni D'Entrecasteaux]]
'''Antoine Raymond Joseph de Bruni D'Entrecasteaux''' ([[1739]]–[[21 July]], [[1793]]) was a French navigator who explored the [[Australia]]n coast in 1792 while seeking traces of the lost expedition of [[Jean Francois de Galaup|La Pérouse]].
Strictly speaking, his surname should be rendered as Bruni (or Bruny) d'Entrecasteaux, or alternatively Entrecasteaux, but the heading above is used for the sake of uniformity with most entries in reference works relating to this navigator.
==Early career==
[[Image:Antoine-Raymond-Joseph Bruny d’Entrecasteaux.jpg|thumb|Bruni d'Entrecasteaux]]
Born at [[Aix-en-Provence]], [[France]] in 1739, and educated at a [[Jesuit]] school, d'Entrecasteaux would have liked to join that order, but his father intervened and enlisted him in the [[French Navy]] in 1754. In the action that secured the [[Balearic Islands]] for [[Spain]] (and resulted in the execution of [[John Byng|Admiral Byng]]), d'Entrecasteaux was a midshipman aboard ''[[La Minerve]]'', and in April 1757 he was commissioned as an [[ensign (rank)|ensign]]. His further naval career as a junior officer was uneventful, and he appears in this period to have done general service in the French Navy.
For a time d'Entrecasteaux was Assistant Director of ports and arsenals, after which (1785) he was transferred to command a French Squadron in the [[East Indies]]. During this service he opened up a new route to [[Canton, China|Canton]] by way of the [[Sunda Strait]] and the [[Moluccas]], for use during the south-east monsoon season. He was then appointed [[Governor]] of the French colony of [[Mauritius]].
==His explorations==
[[Image:Recherche and Espérance-François Roux mg 0574.jpg|thumb|The frigates ''Recherche'' and ''Espérance'']]
In September 1791, the French Assembly decided to send an expedition in search of [[La Pérouse]], who had not been heard of since leaving [[Botany Bay]] in 1788. D'Entrecasteaux was selected to command this expedition. He was given a frigate, ''[[French ship Recherche |La Recherche]]'' (500 tons), with [[d'Hesmity-d'Auribeau]] as his second-in-command and de Rossel among the other officers. A similar ship, ''[[French ship Espérance|L'Espérance]]'', was placed under [[Jean-Michel Huon de Kermadec]], with [[de Trobriand]] as his second-in-command. A distinguished hydrographical engineer, [[C.F. Beautemps-Beaupré]], was the [[hydrographer]] to the expedition.
When the expedition left [[Brest, France|Brest]] on [[28 September]], [[1791]], d'Entrecasteaux was promoted to the rank of rear-admiral. The plan of the voyage was to proceed to [[New Holland (Australia)|New Holland]] ([[Australia]]), to sight [[Cape Leeuwin]], then to hug the shore closely all the way to [[Van Diemen's Land]] ([[Tasmania]]), inspecting every possible harbour in a rowing boat, and then to sail for the [[Friendly Islands]] ([[Tonga]]) via the northern cape of [[New Zealand]]. He was next to follow La Pérouse's intended route in the [[Pacific]]. It was thought that La Pérouse had meant to explore [[New Caledonia]] and the [[Louisiade Archipelago]], to pass through [[Torres Strait]], and to explore the [[Gulf of Carpentaria]] and the northern coast of New Holland.
However, when d'Entrecasteaux reached [[Table Bay]], [[Cape Town]] on [[17 January]], [[1792]], he heard a report that Captain [[John Hunter (New South Wales)|John Hunter]] (later to be [[Governor of New South Wales]]) had recently seen – off the [[Admiralty Islands]] – canoes manned by natives wearing French uniforms and belts. Although Hunter denied this report, and although the Frenchmen heard of the denial, d'Entrecasteaux determined to make directly to the Admiralty Islands, taking water and refreshing his crew at Van Diemen's Land. On [[20 April]] [[1792]], that land was in sight, and three days later the ships anchored in a harbour, which he named [[Recherche Bay]]. For the next five weeks, until [[28 May]] [[1792]], the Frenchmen carried out careful boat explorations which revealed in detail the beautiful waterways and estuaries in the area.
D'Entrecasteaux was fortunate in having good officers and scientists; the most important from the exploration point of view was the expedition's first hydrographical engineer, C.F Beautemps-Beaupré, who is now regarded as the father of modern French hydrography. The work this officer did in the field was excellent, and his charts, when published in France as an ''Atlas du Voyage de Bruny-Dentrecasteaux'' (1807) were very detailed. The atlas contains 39 charts, of which those of Van Diemen's Land were the most detailed, and which remained the source of the English charts for many years.
Beautemps-Beaupré, while surveying the coasts with Lieutenant Crétin, discovered that [[Adventure Bay]], which had been discovered by [[Tobias Furneaux]] in 1773, was on an island which was separated from the mainland by a fine navigable channel. On [[16 May]], d'Entrecasteaux commenced to sail the ships through the channel, and this was accomplished by the 28th. [[Port Esperance]], the [[Huon River]], and other features were discovered, named, and charted, the admiral's names being given to the channel ([[D'Entrecasteaux Channel]]) and the large island ([[Bruny Island]]) separated by it from the mainland.
On [[28 May]] [[1792]], the ships sailed into the Pacific to search for La Pérouse. On [[17 June]], they arrived off the [[Isle of Pines, New Caledonia|Isle of Pines]], south of [[New Caledonia]]. From there, d'Entrecasteaux sailed northward along the western coast of New Caledonia. The Entrecasteaux reefs at the northwestern end of the [[New Caledonia Barrier Reef]] are named for him. He then passed the [[Solomon Islands]] along their southern or western coasts, sailed through [[Saint George's Channel (Bismarck Archipelago)|Saint George's Channel]] between [[New Ireland (island)|New Ireland]] and [[New Britain]], and on [[28 July]] [[1792]] sighted the south-east coast of the [[Admiralty Islands]]. After three days spent in scrutinizing the eastern and northern coastline, d'Entrecasteaux decided that the rumours he had heard in Table Bay must be false, and he therefore set sail for [[Ambon Island|Ambon]], where his ships replenished their stores.
Leaving Amboina on [[14 October]] [[1792]], d'Entrecasteaux made for [[Cape Leeuwin]] to carry out his original instructions of searching southern [[New Holland (Australia)|New Holland]] for La Pérouse. On [[6 December]] land was sighted near Cape Leeuwin, and named [[D'Entrecasteaux Point]]. This event was celebrated by feastings and parties, one result of which was that the smith on board La Recherche, [[Jean-Marie Marhadour]] over-indulged and died next day from an [[apoplectic]] fit. The weather was boisterous, and the ships failed to find [[Albany, Western Australia|King George III Sound]], originally discovered by [[George Vancouver|Vancouver]]. As they sailed further east, they penetrated numerous islands and dangerous shoals, to which they gave the name ''D'Entrecasteaux Islands'' — later changed to the [[Recherche Archipelago]].
While the Frenchmen were still in that dangerous area, on [[12 December]] [[1792]] a violent storm descended upon them, and both ships were nearly wrecked. Fortunately, however, they found an anchorage where they were able to ride out the worst of the gale. Landings were made here on the mainland, and the locality was named in honour of Legrand, who had spotted the anchorage, and the ship he was on, ''L'Esperance''. Beautemps-Beaupré made a hasty survey of the off-lying islands of the archipelago. No water was found, and on [[18 December]] the ships continued eastward to the head of the [[Great Australian Bight]], but here the coast was found to be even more arid, and the water position more serious.
On [[4 January]] [[1793]], d'Entrecasteaux was forced to leave the coast at a position near D'Entrecasteaux Reef and sail direct to Van Diemen's Land. In this decision the French explorer was unfortunate, for if he had continued his examination of the southern coast of New Holland, he would have made all the geographical discoveries that fell to the lot of [[George Bass|Bass]] and [[Matthew Flinders|Flinders]] a few years later. Then, indeed, a French ''"Terre Napoléon"'' might well have become a fact.
The ships anchored in Recherche Bay on [[22 January]], and a period of five weeks was spent in that area, watering the ships, refreshing the crews, and carrying out explorations into both [[natural history]] and [[geography]]. Beautemps-Beaupré, in company with other officers, surveyed the northern extensions to [[Storm Bay]] – the western extension was found to be a mouth of a river and received the name Rivière du Nord – it was renamed the [[Derwent River, Tasmania|Derwent River]] a few months later by the next visitor to this area, Captain [[John Hayes (explorer)|John Hayes]] in the ''Duke of Clarence'' and the ''Duchess''.
On [[28 February]] d'Entrecasteaux sailed from Van Diemen's Land towards the Friendly Islands, sighting [[New Zealand]] and the [[Kermadec Islands]] en route. At the Friendly Islands, he found that the natives remembered [[James Cook|Cook]] and [[William Bligh|Bligh]] well enough, but knew nothing of La Pérouse. He then sailed back to New Caledonia, where he anchored at [[Balade]]. The vain search for La Pérouse was then resumed to [[Santa Cruz Islands|Santa Cruz]], then along the southern coasts of the Solomon Islands, the northern parts of the [[Louisiade Archipelago]], through the [[Dampier Strait (Papua New Guinea)|Dampier Strait]], along the northern coast of [[New Britain]] and the southern coast of the Admiralty Islands, and thence north of [[New Guinea]] to the Moluccas.
By this time, the affairs of the expedition had become almost desperate, largely because the officers were ardent royalists and the crews equally ardent revolutionaries. Kermadec had died of [[phthisis]] in Balade harbour, and on [[21 July]] [[1793]], d'Entrecasteaux himself died of scurvy, off the Hermits. Commands were re-arranged, with [[d'Auribeau]] taking charge of the expedition, with [[de Rossel]] in Kermadec's place. The new chief took the ships to [[Surabaya]]. Here it was learned that a republic had been proclaimed in France, and on [[18 February]] [[1794]] d'Auribeau handed his vessels to the Dutch authorities so that the new French Government could not profit by them. D'Auribeau died a month later and de Rossel sailed from [[Java (island)|Java]] in January 1795 on board a Dutch ship, arriving at [[Table Bay]] in April 1795. There his ship sailed unexpectedly with the expedition's papers, leaving him behind, but this vessel was captured by the British. Rossel then took passage on a brig-of-war, but this too was captured by the British. After the [[Peace of Amiens]] in 1802, all the papers of the expedition were returned to Rossel, who was thus enabled to publish a narrative of the whole enterprise.
==Quotes==
<blockquote>
When French explorer Bruni D'Entrecasteaux first saw this island in 1792 it was the forests that impressed him. He wrote of...
"...trees of an immense height and proportionate diameter, their branchless trunks covered with evergreen foliage, some looking as old as the world;
"closely interlacing in an almost impenetrable forest, they served to suppert others which, crumbling with age, fertilised the soil with their debris;
"nature in all her vigor, and yet in a state of decay, seems to offer to the imagination something more picturesque and more imposing than the sight of this same nature bedecked by the hand of civilised man.
"Wishing only to preserve her beauties we destroy her charm, we rob her of that power which is hers alone, the secret of preserving in eternal age eternal youth."
</blockquote>
==Australian places with name==
Direct naming occurs at the following:- <ref>http://www.ga.gov.au/bin/gazm01?placename=d%27entrecasteaux&placetype=0&state=0 Geosciences Australia place name search</ref>
**[[Western Australia]]
* Point D'Entrecasteaux -34 50 116 00
*[[D'Entrecasteaux National Park]] -34 36 115 56
**[[South Australia]]
* D'Entrecasteaux Reef -31 58 131 55
**[[Tasmania]]
* D'Entrecasteaux Channel -43 15 147 15 -
* D'Entrecasteaux Monument Historic Site -43 16 147 14 -
* D'Entrecasteaux River -43 28 146 50 -
* D'Entrecasteaux Watering Place Historic Site -43 34 146 53 -
==References==
<References/>
==Further reading==
* Duyker, Eduward and Maryse (editors and translators)(2001)
* Horner, F. B. (1995) ''Looking for La Perouse : D’Entrecasteaux in Australia and the South Pacific, 1792-1793'' Carlton South, Vic. : Miegunyah Press. ISBN 0522844510
* McLaren, Ian F. (1993) ''La perouse in the Pacific, including searches by d’Entrecasteaux, Dillon, Dumont d’Urville : an annotated bibliography '' (with an introduction by John Dunmore). Parkville [Vic.] : University of Melbourne Library. ISBN 0732506018
* Van Duuren, David and Tristan Mostert (2007), ''Curiosities from the Pacific Ocean. A remarkable Rediscovery in the [[Tropenmuseum]], Amsterdam: Thirteen Ethnographic Objects from the Bruny d'Entrecasteaux Expedition (1791-1794)''. Amsterdam: Tropenmuseum / Leiden: C. Zwartenkot. ISBN 0522849326
[[Category:1739 births|Bruni d'Entrecasteaux]]
[[Category:1793 deaths|Bruni d'Entrecasteaux]]
[[Category:French explorers]]
[[Category:Explorers of the Pacific]]
[[Category:French Navy officers]]
[[ca:Antoine Bruny d'Entrecasteaux]]
[[de:Joseph Bruny d’Entrecasteaux]]
[[fr:Antoine Bruny d'Entrecasteaux]]
[[id:Bruni d'Entrecasteaux]]