Name/TitleMedal commemorating the first voyage of Duperrey to the Pacific
About this objectDuperrey’s voyage was one of the greatest of the French grands voyages to the Pacific. The expedition set out from Toulon on 11 August 1822, with the intention of collecting scientific data and specimens, but was also instructed to report on the possibility of establishing a penal colony in Western Australia. Duperrey, who was thirty-five at the start of the voyage, had been on the crew of the previous major French Pacific voyage – that of Freycinet.
He had as his second-in-command Dumont d’Urville, who was to become the most experienced French commander in the Pacific. While science led the expedition, there was also an unspoken goal of discovering where France might carve out an empire in the South Pacific.
His voyage was of some 73,000 miles with major destinations including Australia, New Zealand, and New Guinea. By far the greatest contributions of the expedition were scientific, cartographic and ethnographic, and the Duperrey voyage account is a famously sumptuous production, with exquisite coloured plates.
MakerPuymaurin & Andrieu - Engraver
Maker RoleEngraver
Date Made1822
Period19th century
Place MadeParis, France
Medium and MaterialsBronze
Measurements50mm diameter
Object TypeMedallions and Convict Tokens
Object numberSF000696
Copyright Licence
Attribution - Non-commercial - No Derivatives (cc)
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The mug is decorated with an underglaze and a blue transfer print. On the body, it is titled ‘Emigrants to Australia’. This type of body and glaze was discontinued by 1840. Comparison of the handle shape and the profile of the foot, point to the attribution of manufacture by the Davenport Factory.
Delta was a ship-rigged vessel with two decks and three masts. It was built in Dordrecht, Netherlands in 1839 at the shipyard of Jan Schouten and registered in the same port. Its hull was constructed of oak and sheathed in ‘yellow metal’. Delta was owned by H. van der Sande at the time of its loss and was engaged as a cargo trader.
The Delta carried 29 crew and passengers, while sailing from Melbourne to Batavia in ballast when wrecked at Kenn Reefs on 30 May 1854 whilst under the command of Captain J.G. Kunst. This vessel loss supports the pattern of shipwrecks located on a well-travelled shipping route that was poorly charted until the mid-nineteenth century. The crew of the Delta could see four other shipwrecks at Kenn Reefs at the time of their vessel’s loss.
Important image of a ship associated with Matthew Flinders, that would shortly become one of the most famous early shipwrecks in eastern Australian waters. This is a fine ship’s portrait, by one of the great exponents of the art