D'Urville was a career naval officer, widely read in literature and the sciences, reserved but quietly ambitious, and of a philosophic cast of mind. On an early voyage to survey the islands of the Aegean, and the Black Sea, he was instrumental in France acquiring the Venus de Milo for the Louvre. His knowledge of antiquities and natural history made him a good choice to lead expeditions of exploration.
D'Urville could have been France's Captain Cook, if he'd been born 50 years earlier, but by the time of his major voyages into the South Pacific, it was the twilight of the age of exploration and there was not much left to discover. Due to their various wars and revolutions, the French were well behind in terms of European colonisation of the Pacific. When on his first voyage (1822-25) he visited New South Wales, it was a fully functional society, with all the outlines drawn and only filling-in required. But there was work to be done.
With each voyage d'Urville enhanced his reputation as a navigator and explorer. He had a fine eye for gaps in knowledge, and much as Duyker is concerned to patiently test and examine earlier accounts of d'Urville, d'Urville on his meandering voyages checks the calculations and improves the charts of earlier explorers, and adds substantially to the collections of earlier naturalists.
D'Urville's voyages were primarily scientific, and he collected thousands of entomological and botanical specimens. These are all, naturally, very well documented, and Duyker sometimes overloads his narrative with detail from official sources, at the expense of more strongly emphasising the broader outlines of the story. More vivid reminders in the background of shipboard conditions and accommodation would have added a layer of colour I missed.
In the islands d'Urville calls on, the natives know the drill: they give the voyagers pigs and coconuts, and get nails in return. Where there is a European presence, d'Urville meets men of surprising learning, and exchanges diplomatic courtesies. Half a world away from Europe, they can refurbish and restock the ships with copper plating, or a new 900kg anchor, or gallons of arrak (for drinking, but also preserving the occasional corpse). At remote outposts they can confidently collect and leave their mail for France.
D'Urville's achievements include greatly improving coastal maps of New Zealand, discovering the fate of explorer La Perouse, and on his third voyage crossing the Antarctic Circle and mapping the Adelie coast of Antarctica (which he named for his wife). But he was also given the more low-key objectives of reporting on the opportunities for France for trade and penal and other settlements in Australia and New Zealand. How much more interesting life would be here with a French-speaking nation in the neighbourhood.
The sudden and tragic death of d'Urville and his family in a thoroughly modern accident in France is in strong contrast to the manner of Cook's violent death in Hawaii. As a bridge between worlds and ages, his career well warrants Duyker's careful and scholarly treatment.
Paul Tankard is a lecturer in the University of Otago English department.
