The advancement of knowledge in La Perouse's 1782 expedition to Hudson Bay.

One of the greatest figures in the history of the French Navy, Count Francois Galaup de La Perouse, is best known for leading a scientific voyage of discovery around the world in 1785-1788. King Louis XVI clearly was not mistaken when he chose one of the most talented officers in his fleet to complete an ambitious project worthy of the Enlightenment, for La Perouse had participated in numerous campaigns, demonstrating his exceptional qualities as a sailor and a leader of men on the world's high seas, especially during the American War of Independence and the successful missions to the Antilles and to Hudson Bay. This latter mission is the object of our focus here, not so much for its political and economic outcome as for its contribution to the advancement of scientific knowledge. The voyage to Hudson Bay gathered vital new information through a variety of means, such as day-to-day navigation, precise hydrographic measurements, new maps and charts, and astronomical readings; even the dangers associated with such a daring mission were a source of valuable insights, as were encounters with the indigenous peoples of Hudson Bay and Hudson Strait.

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The various accounts retracing the dramatic moments of this raid on the Hudson Bay posts assume the form of sea journals (including transcriptions of ship logs), military reports, letters and memoirs written by the officers of the three ships: La Perouse, leader of the division and commander of the Sceptre; the Marquis Andre-Charles de La Jaille, commander of the Engageante, and the Chevalier de Delangle, commander of the Astree, as well as his second-in-command, Pierre-Bruno-Jean la Monneraye. (1) These writings were meant to gather together all the information collected in the course of the expedition, which would then be submitted to the authorities of the French Navy. As such, they are part of a long tradition of travel narratives and are constrained to some extent by precise rhetorical codes as they are meant to convey very specific information of various types: military, geographic, hydrographic, and even ethnographic.

Redrawing the Maps

Undertaken at the end of the American War of Independence in 1782, and shrouded in secrecy, the expedition to Hudson Bay took on the appearance of a mission of discovery: indeed, the information gathered is often of a precarious and uncertain nature, whether pertaining to the navigational routes to be followed or the perils of sailing to be avoided. This is quite the opposite of what one would expect for a military venture requiring a maximum of information on the enemy's defences. In fact, to a large extent the very secrecy of the mission detracted from its logistic preparations. In this regard, the Marquis de La Jaille, commander of the Engageante, observed in his journal:

 
   We had no reports on the perils of sailing on those 
   seas that we were to cross, or on the direction, the 
   force and speed of the currents, or the appearance 
   of land. We did not even know the position of the 
   forts that we would have to attack, so that one 
   could truthfully say that with few exceptions, we 
   were going off to discover a country we knew in 
   name only. (2) 

The frustration of La Perouse, exacerbated not only by a lack of precise information on the region in question, but also by difficult sailing conditions, often gives rise to hyperbolic turns of phrase: