A disillusioned explorer: Gaston de Rocquemaurel or the culture of French naval scholars during the first part of the 19th century. (1st October 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Leclerc-Caffarel, Stéphanie; Zanco, Jean-Philippe
• Is Part Of: Terrae incognitae. Volume 45:Number 2(2013)
• Page Start: 113
• Page End: 127
• Publication Date: 2013-10-01
• Subjects: Discoveries in geography -- History -- Periodicals; Intercultural communication -- History -- Periodicals; 910.9
• DOI: 10.1179/0082288413Z.00000000023
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0082-2884

Abstract

<abstract> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <p>By 1850, the glorious times of the French exploratory expeditions to the Pacific had come to an end. Dumont-d'Urville's second expedition (1837-40), during which the Terre Adélie was discovered in Antarctica, is considered by most historians as the last circumnavigation to sail. Nevertheless, there was one more. A little known captain, Gaston de Rocquemaurel, led the corvette <italic>Capricieuse</italic> to the South Seas (1851-54). Officially, it was a political mission to China, but Rocquemaurel also had some scientific assignments. He explored unknown parts of the Sea of Japan, reconnoitred the coasts of Indochina, and, by following Lapérouse's route along the coasts of Korea and Kamtchatka, he filled in some of the last uncharted areas on 18th-century maps. This makes him the last in the line of what we call in French "<italic>les marins-savants</italic>" — literally "naval scholars, " who, from Bougainville to Dumont d'Urville, improved European knowledge of lands, peoples, and cultures of the Pacific Ocean.</p> <p>The "<italic>marins-savants</italic>" trained in the best French schools (École Navale or École Polytechnique) and belonged to the French elite. Although they cannot be considered gentlemen of the Enlightenment anymore, they were still different from the colonial agents who followed them. In the mid-19th century, now that the world was well charted and the last geographical myths had been proven wrong, new criteria, including economic ones, transformed adventurous endeavours into prudent enterprises and changed the perception of non-European peoples. This new rationalism informs a rather disillusioned conception of exploratory expeditions. This paper focuses on this idea whilst referencing the explorer Rocquemaurel as a case study.</p> </abstract>