Susan Manchester
Well-known member
I was looking up information about Prosper Garnot for this scientific name, when I was propelled into an alternate universe! First, I read about Garnot getting sick during the Coquille expedition, and getting off the ship in Port Jackson to carry the collections he and Rene Primevere Lesson had made back to France on the British convict ship Castle Forbes. Lesson said, and it is repeated everywhere, that the Castle Forbes sunk off the Cape of Good Hope, and the collection was lost. However, I could not find ANYTHING about the Castle Forbes having a wreck anywhere, let alone off the Cape of Good Hope. Their schedule during 1824 had them sailing only in the Indian Ocean area, and in July of that year, they were in Madras, far from the Cape of Good Hope. So I looked up information on Lesson and the Coquille, and that is when things really got weird. I found a listing of Lesson's books and journals here:
http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/creator/4365
That is where I found out that he wrote part of the journals for both the circumnavigation of the Thetis and the Esperance in 1824-1826, and the Coquille in 1822-1825???? The item showing under the Esperance expedition is only an atlas, but under the natural history specimens, there are butterflies named after both of Lesson's daughters. And under the information for the expedition leader, Hyacinthe de Bougainville, it says that he visited New South Wales, Port Jackson and Sydney in 1825, while the Coquille was there in 1824. Wikipedia has Lesson writing both part of both journals as well. Does anyone have any information that would clear this mystery up for me? I am really hampered by the fact that I do not speak French.
http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/creator/4365
That is where I found out that he wrote part of the journals for both the circumnavigation of the Thetis and the Esperance in 1824-1826, and the Coquille in 1822-1825???? The item showing under the Esperance expedition is only an atlas, but under the natural history specimens, there are butterflies named after both of Lesson's daughters. And under the information for the expedition leader, Hyacinthe de Bougainville, it says that he visited New South Wales, Port Jackson and Sydney in 1825, while the Coquille was there in 1824. Wikipedia has Lesson writing both part of both journals as well. Does anyone have any information that would clear this mystery up for me? I am really hampered by the fact that I do not speak French.