Nouvelle-Hollande : Île King : L'éléphant-marin ou phoque à trompe. (Phoca proboscida, N.) Vue de la Baie des Eléphants. C. A. Lesueur del.

• Main Authors: Péron, François, 1775-1810, Lesueur, Charles Alexandre, 1778-1846, Aubert, L., Milbert, Jacques Gérard, 1766-1840, Langlois, Pillement
• Format: Map
• Language: unknown
• Published: Imprimerie Impériale 1811
• Subjects: Zoological; Elephant Seals
• Online Access: https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~338510~90106456; https://media.davidrumsey.com/MediaManager/srvr?mediafile=/Size4/RUMSEY~8~1/195/14352069.jpg

View of elephant seals in Elephant Cove on King Island, "New Holland" [Australia]. Features fauna, architecture, topography, vegetation and shoreline, as well indigenous figures. Relief shown pictorially. Black and white engraving. View is 15 x 21 cm, on sheet 27 x 36 cm. Appears in Atlas I. The rare complete official narrative and hydrography of the great French voyage of the Napoleonic period, the Baudin-Freycinet Expedition. The voyage has been characterized as the last great Enlightenment voyage, and was perhaps its purest expression, combining as it did scientific curiosity and research, territorial and geopolitical ambition, and the spirit of inquiry on the widest scale. As the first full atlas of the Australian coastline, its cartographical contribution is of extraordinary value, with a navigational section charting the coast. It is among the finest items of Australiana ever published, recounting an outstanding exploration. The six volumes were published separately over a period of ten years, commencing in 1816. In this complete form, the journals are exceedingly rare. The expedition was ordered by the French government in order to complete the cartographic survey of the Australian coast, covering the area not examined by Cook. Commanded by Nicolas Baudin, the crew was composed of twenty-two scientists, ranging from hydrographers, geographers and astronomers to zoologists, botanists and 'artiste-peintres’. The expedition left France in 1800 and sailed via Mauritius to the Western Australian coast in the region of Cape Leeuwin, arriving in May 1801. Peron sailed as naturalist on the expedition and Freycinet as cartographer. The vessels, Geographe and Naturaliste, sailed north from Cape Leeuwin, charting the mouth of the Swan River, the site of present day Perth. After three months in Timor, the two ships set out for Tasmania, continuing to make surveys and a close study of the indigenous Tasmanian people and their material culture. The expedition continued on to New South Wales, creating a fine panorama ...