MASCARIN 1772

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aukepalmhof
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Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2009 1:28 am

MASCARIN 1772

Post by aukepalmhof » Sun Aug 07, 2022 9:32 pm

The latest Watercraft Philately gives for the ship depicts on this souvenir sheet that it can be the MASCARIN or the MARQUIS DE CASTRIES. I found a French internet site where Julien Crozet took possession of the island, he was the second in command of the MASCARIN. I believe the MASCARIN is depicted on this MS.

At the end of 1771, Captain Marc Joseph Marion du Fresne (ca 1724-1772), also in search of the Terra australis, sailed south from the Cape of Good Hope, with the MASCARIN and the MARQUIS DE CASTRIES. But it was an icy archipelago that he discovered on January 24, 1772, again from the southern islands, which Cook later named “Crozet” in memory of Marion du Fresne's second in command, Julien Crozet, who landed there.
Discovery of three islands
Heading east, the two ships reached a new archipelago on January 22, 1772. This was the western group of THE CROZET ISLANDS: APOSTLE ISLANDS, PIGS Island, and PENGUIN ISLAND, together which Marion-Dufresne baptized FROIDES ISLANDS.
Taking possession
On January 24, 1772, two days after the discovery of the western group of THE COLD ISLANDS, ÎLE DE LA POSSESSION and ÎLE DE L'EST came into view. Julien Crozet, MASCARIN 's mate is sent ashore where he performs a possession ceremony by depositing a bottle containing a parchment in the name of King Louis XV. The island is named ÎLE DE LA PRIZE DE POSSESSION , and its eastern neighbor ÎLE ARIDE.
Crozet's story
Discovery of some Austral Islands
At eleven o'clock, M. Marion had a boat put in the sea, and ordered me to embark in it to go and take possession, in the name of the King, of the larger of the two islands, which is situated in the southern latitude of 46°30', and by the estimated longitude to the east of the meridian of Paris, 43°. Mr. Marion named it the Island of the Taking of Possession . It was the sixth island that we discovered in this southern part.
Landing at one of the Austral Islands. Observations were made at this island.
As soon as I had landed, my first care was to deposit, according to the custom, the bottle which contained the act of taking possession, on the summit of a pyramid raised 50 feet above the level of the sea, and formed by large rocks piled on top of each other. The place where I landed presents only stones.
I immediately gained an eminence, from where I discovered snow in several valleys: the ground seemed arid, covered with a small, very fine grass. I noticed there several of those succulent plants which are called ficoids, similar to those which are so common at the Cape of Good Hope. The seaweed which bordered the coast was of extraordinary size and bore very large leaves.
I could not discover on this island any tree or shrub. I did not stay there long enough to find fresh water, but it seems that one would find it in the valleys which I saw from the eminence where I had climbed.
This island, exposed to the continual ravages of the stormy winds from the west, which prevail all year round in these parts, does not appear habitable. I found there only sea wolves, penguins, checkerboards, wingspans, cormorants, loons, and all the species of aquatic birds that navigators encounter on the open sea when they pass the cape of Good Hope. These birds, which had never seen men, were not shy, and let themselves be taken by the hand. The females of these birds brooded their eggs quietly; others fed their young: the sea wolves continued their leaps and their games in our presence, without appearing in the least frightened.
I noticed with surprise a white pigeon, which had no doubt strayed from some neighboring land. One could, it seems to me, augur from this that we were not very far from a more considerable land, and which produces grains suitable for the food of the pigeons. The encounter with very heavy ice in a region situated in the middle of the temperate zone further supports this opinion.
Mr Crozet
Excerpt from New Voyage to the South Sea. (Google translated)

More on the MASCARIN is given on: viewtopic.php?p=12166&hilit=mascarin#p12166
http://crozetvv.free.fr/histoire_decouverte3.php

French Southern & Antarctic Terr. 2022 Euro 1.10 sgMS?, Scott 673.
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Anatol
Posts: 1037
Joined: Sun Apr 12, 2009 2:13 pm

Re: MASCARIN 1772

Post by Anatol » Tue Aug 16, 2022 3:33 pm

See also: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=17990.

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