Admiral Manby announces
In October 1825, Volume XX of the Asiatic Journal carried an announcement by Admiral Thomas Manby of the probable discovery of relics of the LaPérouse. expedition. But from where did Manby get his information?
Eugène Chaigneau: an unlucky life
In October 1827, a brief note appeared in the Bulletin de la Société de géographie, informing its readers of the contents of a letter, dated 17 January 1827 sent from the survey ship belonging to the Honourable East India Company. However, the 26-year-old author of the letter, Eugène Chaigneau, was French. How did he come to be on board?
The House of the Mad
There are plenty of places where it is recorded that Jacques Arago spent some time in the mental hospital run by Esprit Blanche and his wife in Montparnasse. That, however, is as far as the information goes. We do not know why he was consigned to the hospital, when this happened or how long he remained incarcerated. But we do, al least, have his own account of the experience.
A kangaroo court
On the 5th of April 1827, the survey vessel Research anchored off Hobart. The next day her captain, Peter Dillon, was arraigned for assault and wrongful imprisonment by the ship’s doctor, Robert Tytler. He was convicted, fined fifty pounds and sentenced to two months imprisonment. But was that justified?
Early charts of the Carolines
In 1790 the cartographer Aaron Arrowsmith produced a comprehensive map of the world. It was an impressive achievement, but how accurate was it, as far as Micronesia was concerned?
Jacques Arago and Dom Pedro II
The third of Jacques Arago.s four visits to Rio de Janeiro was made during the reign of Dom Pedro II. His account of his relations with the emperor is very different from that provided by at least one other French visitor to the city.