Geographe’s Chaloupe (1801/06/05)

Wonnerup Area

THE VESSEL
The Géographe and the Naturaliste were two corvettes under the command of Post-Captain Nicolas Baudin sent by the French Government on a voyage of discovery to the south-west, west, north-west and north coasts of New Holland in 1800. The Géographe carried a number of boats, but the biggest was the chaloupe or longboat. There is little information on the size of this boat. However there are at least two drawings of it from which some deductions may be made. The Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle at Le Havre in France has a collection of paintings and drawings from that expedition. Item number 16090 is entitled ‘Camp on an elevated coast’ (Bonnemains, et al, 1988: 112). This depicts a longboat heading in towards a rocky shore where there is a French camp. This boat has two masts on which are set what appear to be lateen or settee sails. Baudin states in his journal that his longboat was ‘easily distinguishable because of its sails’ (Baudin, 1974: 177). The boat has a high, arched transom and is shown with six oars. On board can be seen a number of people, one of whom is standing by the aft mast.

There is another drawing/etching, held in the Musee de la Marine, Paris, which shows the Naturaliste arriving at Kupang in Timor, with the Géographe already at anchor. Alongside the Géographe is a longboat with two masts, each having furled lateen or settee sails. This boat has a man standing near the stern, and a good idea of the size of the boat can be seen from its relationship both with this person and with the corvette alongside.

The Géographe was a corvette, having a length of 124 feet (37.8 m) and a beam of 30 feet (9.14 m) (Baudin, 1974: 577). As the vessel carried all the boats on board, and did not normally tow them except on short trips, this limited the size of the boats that could be carried. One boat was hung on stern davits, but it is not known whether this was a longboat or the large dinghy (grand canot), but most probably the latter. In either case the length of the boat was considerably less than the beam of the corvette. This boat can be clearly seen in the frontispiece to Baudin’s journal, and in the illustration used on the writing paper prepared for the expedition (Bonnemains, et al, 1988: 3).

A further indication of the size of the longboat can be obtained from Baudin’s journal. He describes the loss of his longboat (the one built at Timor to replace that lost at Wonnerup Inlet) in Bass Strait on 15 December 1802 when the Géographe was sailing to King Island. When it arrived at the island some of the crew were immediately sent to cut timber with which to build a replacement longboat. This longboat was built on the deck of the Géographe, work commencing on Christmas Day of 1802. Some timber for planking and curved timber for the bow was later cut while the vessel was at anchor at Kangaroo Island, as the corvette gradually explored westward. While still at anchor on 29 January the longboat was tipped up to lie on its beam ends so that measurements could be taken of the bottom, presumably to cut and fit the bottom planks. ‘This work could not easily be done once we were at sea, because our other boats would have hampered us too much’ (Baudin, 1974: 471).

This longboat was completed on 9 February:
On board we busied ourselves with the last of the work on our longboat, which, with its masts, sails and rigging, was finished during the day. We shall thus be in a position to use it when the first opportunity arises and I trust that the fate of this third one will be happier than that of the two others (Baudin, 1974: 477).

A probable size for the longboat would be a length of between 8 m and 9 m, a beam of about 2.7 m and a depth of 1.2 m. It was a seaworthy, strongly constructed workhorse, used to carry kedge anchors and casks of water. ‘…the longboat had to operate in all weathers, under oar or sail. She had to be stout and large enough to carry out all these tasks, yet at the same time be light and short enough to be hoisted aboard’ (Lavery, 1987: 218). ‘Apart from the lines, the general character of man-of-war boats was much alike – whether Dutch, English, American or otherwise – and they were of much the same construction’ (Petrejus, 1970: 121). May (1999: 58) quotes the dimensions and scantlings of Royal Navy boats ‘around 1800’, and gives the lengths of the five different sizes of longboats as ranging from 19 feet (5.8 m) to 32 feet (9.75 m).

THE LOSS
On 5 June 1800 the two corvettes were anchored north of the Wonnerup Inlet. Baudin sent off one of his longboats under the command of Le Bas de Sainte Croix with a party of scientists to examine the inlet, which had been reported by sub-lieutenant Heirisson of the Naturaliste as a large river or lake. The boat left the Géographe at 3.00 a.m. and headed south in a fresh north-east breeze to start the survey.

The wind freshened considerably during the morning from the north-north-east, and when the boat had not returned by evening lights were kept burning at the mizzen mast-head to guide its expected arrival. It still had not been sighted the following morning, and it was not until 9.30 p.m. that the commander of the Naturaliste, Jacques Felix Emmanuel Hamelin, came on board and reported to Baudin that the longboat had been stranded near the beach. It had been left anchored in the charge of two sailors while the others had gone ashore, and had been thrown on its beam ends by a large sea and then filled by a following wave. The crew and scientists were unharmed, but they had lost everything except a small quantity of rice, some biscuits and a barrel of gunpowder. Losses included the scientific equipment, a number of firearms, food and some specimens collected by the scientists.

INQUIRY
Baudin carried out an inquiry on board the Géographe in which general blame was apportioned to all those involved, including seamen, officers and scientists, but no punishments were carried out.

INITIAL SALVAGE
At 4.00 a.m. on 7 June, Baudin made ready his large dinghy and sent it with the master carpenter to the Naturaliste with a note instructing Hamelin that he was to have the Naturaliste’s dinghy accompany the carpenter and show him where the longboat lay. Hamelin was then to sail at first light, and have the Naturaliste stand in as close as possible to the stranded men so that he would be able to render assistance if needed. A note was also written to Le Bas de Sainte Croix telling him that the boats sent to his aide had ‘everything you may need for refloating the longboat, if it is possible’ (Baudin, 1974: 180). Baudin advised him that if the longboat could not be saved without further risks it was to be abandoned.

The Géographe’s boat returned about 4.00 p.m. having brought off all the men, but abandoning the salvage equipment due to lack of room on board. The master carpenter reported to Baudin:
I consider your longboat lost, because it is impossible to work at it. The sea is too rough and unless there is calm weather for several days, it will not be quiet at the place where the boat is.

This longboat has sunk completely and is covered by more than 2 feet of water. It is, moreover, quite full of sand and is so embedded, that it makes a shallow of more than 5 feet in circumference, upon which one may walk as if on a platform. I do not think that the longboat has been damaged, but, unless there should be a spring-tide when the sea would go out far enough to leave it uncovered, it is useless to try getting it off the sand. Had I seen it for myself before the dispatching of all the articles that we have lost, I could have saved you the additional loss of all the things that I left behind, being unable to put them back in the boat which was intended to take everyone to the ship (Baudin, 1974: 184).

The items lost included ‘tackle, grapnels, pulleys, gear, masts, planking, pliers, jacks, etc., etc., which had been left behind and which I greatly regretted’ (Baudin, 1974: 183).

Later that day a small dinghy from the Naturaliste, commanded by Lieutenant Commander Bernard Milius, in attempting to salvage some of this gear left on the beach, lost one man, Thomas Timothée Vasse, who was washed away by a wave as he was attempting to reach the dinghy from the shore. Due to the darkness and violence of the waves he could not be saved, and was presumed to have drowned.

In late August 1801 the Géographe and the Naturaliste voyaged to Kupang in Timor to obtain food and water. While in that port Baudin had Francois Ronsard, the naval engineer, and the master carpenter take a work party and fell suitable trees for the construction of a replacement longboat. This work was carried out, and on 3 September 1801 ‘the keel, stem and stern-post of the longboat were laid down. The length of this boat and its other measurements are somewhat greater than those of the one we lost’ (Baudin, 1974: 265). Subsequently this boat was lost in Bass Strait and a replacement built on the deck of the Géographe with timber cut on King and Kangaroo islands as the corvette sailed west along the south coast of Australia as described above.