 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
.svg)  France | |
| Namesake | French shipAstrolabe |
| Builder | Toulon shipyard |
| Launched | 1811 |
| Christened | Coquille, 9 July 1814 |
| Renamed | Astrolabe in 1826 |
| Fate | Scrapped in 1851 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Fluyt |
| Displacement | 380 tonnes |
| Length | 31.57 m (103.6 ft) |
| Beam | 18.48 m (60.6 ft) |
| Draught | 4.25 m (13.9 ft) |
| Propulsion | Sail |
| Crew | 11 officers & 72 men (1827) |
| Armament | 12 guns (1827) |
Astrolabe was originally a horse-transportbarge converted into an exploration ship of theFrench Navy. Originally namedCoquille, she is famous for her travels withJules Dumont d'Urville. The name derives from an earlynavigational instrument, theastrolabe, a precursor to thesextant.
Louis-Isidore Duperrey commandedCoquille on its circumnavigation of the earth (1822–1825) withJules Dumont d'Urville as second.René-Primevère Lesson also travelled onCoquille as a naval doctor and naturalist. On their return in March 1825, Lesson and Dumont brought back to France an imposing collection of animals and plants collected on theFalkland Islands, on the coasts ofChile andPeru, in the archipelagos of the Pacific andNew Zealand,New Guinea andAustralia.[1]
During the voyage the ship spent two weeks in theBay of Islands in the north ofNew Zealand in 1824.[2] The vessel arrived inKosrae where Duperrey and his crew visited for ten days. On the return voyage to France the ship sailed through the Ellice Islands (now known asTuvalu).[1]
Coquille was renamedAstrolabe in honour of one of the ships ofLa Pérouse. She sailed from Toulon on 22 April 1826, towards the Pacific Ocean, for a circumnavigation of the world that was destined to last nearly three years.
Astrolabe explored parts ofNew Zealand. In January 1827, the French explorer Dumont d'Urville arrived inTasman Bay in the north of theSouth Island. A number of landmarks around Tasman Bay were named by d'Urville and his crew includingd'Urville Island,French Pass andTorrent Bay.[3] Dumont then sailed along the east coast of theNorth Island. On 12 March 1827,Astrolabe entered theBay of Islands.[4]
On 19 December 1827Astrolabe came into Hobart to repair, refresh, and seek out information relative to the wreck and remains of La Pérouse's shipwreck.
Astrolabe then visitedFiji, after whichJules Dumont d'Urville executed the first relief maps of theLoyalty Islands (part of FrenchNew Caledonia) and explored the coasts ofNew Guinea. He confirmed the site of La Pérouse's shipwreck inVanikoro (one of theSanta Cruz Islands, part of the archipelago of theSolomon Islands) and collected numerous remains of his boats. The voyage continued with the mapping of part of theCaroline Islands and theMoluccas. TheAstrolabe returned to Marseille on 25 March 1829.
Dumont wanted to do further exploration of the Pacific Ocean, however KingLouis-Philippe ordered that the second expedition aim for theSouth Magnetic Pole and to claim it for France; if that was not possible, Dumont's expedition was asked to equal the most southerly latitude of 74°34'S achieved in 1823 byJames Weddell. Thus France became part of the international competition for polar exploration, along with the United States and the United Kingdom.Astrolabe andZélée sailed from Toulon on 7 September 1837.
After reaching theSouth Orkney Islands, the expedition headed directly to theSouth Shetland Islands and theBransfield Strait. In spite of thick fog they located some land only sketched on the maps, which Dumont named Terre de Louis-Philippe (now calledGraham Land), theJoinville Island group, and Rosamel Island (now calledAndersson Island). As most of the crew had obvious symptoms of scurvy, at the end of February 1838, Dumont accepted that he was not able to continue further south, and he continued to doubt the actual latitude reached by Weddell. He therefore directed the two ships towardsTalcahuano, in Chile, where he established a temporary hospital for the crew members affected by scurvy.
The ships then sailed to theMarquesas Islands then toHobart in Australia on the way south. The expedition followed the coast of Antarctica then carried out experiments to determine the approximate position of theSouth magnetic pole.
They sighted theschoonerUSS Porpoise of theUnited States Exploring Expedition commanded byCharles Wilkes, but due to poor communication, contact was not made.[5]
On 1 February 1840, Dumont decided to turn to the north heading for Hobart, which the two ships reached 17 days later. They were present for the arrival of the two ships ofJames Ross’s expedition to Antarctica.
On 25 February 1840, the ships sailed towards theAuckland Islands, where they carried out magnetic measurements. The expedition returned via New Zealand, theTorres Strait,Timor,Réunion,Saint Helena and finally Toulon, returning on 6 November 1840.
TheAstrolabe Subglacial Basin in Antarctica bears her name, as do theAstrolabe Glacier, theAstrolabe Needle,Astrolabe Island,Great Astrolabe Reef (offKadavu island,Fiji) andAstrolabe Reef (New Zealand).
