Name/TitlePacific voyage of the ASTROLABE 1826-1827
About this objectAlbum of original drawings and watercolours on 85 pages from the first Pacific voyage under the command of Dumont D’Urville, chiefly by Barthélémy Lauvergne but also Louis-Auguste de Sainson. Lauvergne and Sainson were the official artists of the expedition, which left Toulon on April 1826.
Some of the drawings are the originals used for the engravings in the published atlas of the voyage and, organised chronologically, the album forms a complete account of the entire voyage, including views from Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific. The album evidently prepared by Charles Hector Jacquinot (1796-1879), d’Urville’s second-in-command on the ASTROLABE who was given the duty of running the observatory of the ship, which shows why several of the illustrations shoe the observatory set up in various different locations. Jacquinot proved a very able officer, decorated with the Cross of Honour for this voyage, and on d’Urville’s second voyage in the late 1830s he commanded the corvette ZELÉE. Mount Jacquinot in Papua New Guinea was named for him by d’Urville, who was said to have been his best friend.
The album was given by Hector’s brother Achille Jacquinot (1798-1865) to Léon Mallieval, his army officer son-in-law with whom he went into business in 1862 as a banker.
MakerBarthélémy Lauvergne - Artist
Maker RoleArtist
MakerLouis-Auguste de Sainson - Artist
Maker RoleArtist
Date Made1826-1827
Period19th century
Place MadeURANIE (at sea)
Place MadeAustralia
Place MadeNew Zealand
Place MadePapua New Guinea
Medium and MaterialsGraphite, watercolour, brown ink
Inscription and MarksWatermarks: ‘MAM’ initials; ‘218’ numerals
Object TypeMaritime Paintings
Object numberSF001155
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