Interesting Historical Notes.

Career And Death Of

De Trobriand.

WHEN that well-known student of Pacific history and archaeology, Mr.

A. J. Vogan, was in the northern islands last year he visited, in the Lu sancay group, the grave of a white man —unknown, but apparently of some im portance.

Thinking that it might be that of Trobriand, or one of the discoverers of the D’Entrecasteaux group, Mr. Vogan wrote through the Consul-General of France to the French naval authorities; and received the following interesting (but much condensed) reply, which he has courteously placed at our disposal.

Translated by Mr. Vogan from notes supplied by Capitaine de Vaisseau, Chef du Service Historique Paul Chak, by the courtesy of the French Consul-General for Australia: The captain of the frigate “Jean”, Francois Silvestre Denis de Tro briand was the son of Jean Fran cois Silvestre Denis de Trobriand, who married Demoiselle Emmanuelle Elizabeth Drouet, being born at Plou (Finistere), June 7, 1765. He married Demoiselle A. G. F. Duparc.

He joined the frigate L’Esperance as second in command (Captain Huon de Kermadec) which left with the frigate Recherche, under Commandant de d'En trecasteaux, to look for La Perouse, leaving the roadstead of Brest, Sept. 29, 1791, and not returning to France for a long period after all kinds of adventures.

The expedition of d’Entrecasteaux is too well-known by his discoveries and heroic activities to need repeating here.

It suffices to recall the adventures, more or less famous, of de Trobriand after the death of his chiefs: Huon de Kermadec (the group of islands named after him were the half-way house for the ancient Maori voyagers between Samoa, Rara tonga, etc., and Aotearoa, now New Zea land), who died in New Caledonia, May, 1793; and d’Entrecasteaux, who died July of the same year, near the Isles Anachoretes, on the way home.

On October 19, 1793, the two ships of the expedition cast anchor before Sou

rabaya, on the coast of Java. Trobriand left his ship at ten o’clock in the morn ing, in the ship’s cutter, to obtain per mission from the Governor to enter the port. On board, all waited, not without astonishment, for many days, without receiving any news of him.

It was not until the 25th that the chief of the expedition, Commandant d’Aribeau, received a despatch from de Trobriand, informing him of the out break of the Revolution, and the conse quent inability of the Dutch authorities to allow ships to enter port. The Chief of the expedition called a meeting of the officers of the two ships and it was de cided, notwithstanding the exhausted state in which they found themselves, to attempt to return directly to France.

A little afterwards, Trobriand returned on board, announcing the happier view of the matter taken by the Conseil- Superieur of Batavia; and the ships dropped anchor in Sourabaya, Oct. 27, being received with the greatest kind ness.

The two ships, Recherche and L’Es perance, having been, after various vicissitudes, seized by the Dutch Com pany, Trobriand quitted Java in Janu ary, 1795, on board the Dutch ship Hougly.

The convoy of thirty sail, which formed the fleet, was delayed by fierce gales near Sumatra; and Trobriand, thinking he would like to examine the shore, entered a small boat, which cap sized, leaving him to float for seven hours, supported by two oars —finally being rescued by Malays in a canoe.

The survivors of d’Entrecasteaux’s ex pedition lost many of their companions.

Trobriand finished by arriving at the island of St. Helene, in company with a young officer of the Esperance, Jurien de la Graviere (the future Admiral) whose son, having reached the same grade, became one of the brilliant writers upon naval matters and who, in his “Souvenir d’un Amiral,” gives an ac count of the close of Trobriand’s voyage.

The Hougly went to St. Helene be cause she was captured by a ship of a division of the English fleet, the Hol land, as the French Republic had mean while gone to war with that country.

Trobriand was placed in captivity. He protested energetically, but in vain; and all the documents and collections in his charge connected with the expedition were seized, not being returned to France until 1802.

Trobriand became Commandant of the frigate La Vestale in 1797. Leaving Spain in 1798, he arrived (in a month) at Dominica. Going on shore to hand to the agent of the Directoire Roume de spatches from the French (government, he was misdirected by his guide and robbed of his papers. This had so bad an effect upon his mind that it provoked a “nervous fever,” which carried him off in a few days. He died at Cap, Saint Dominica, on March 16, 1799.