Depuch Island
On 27 July 1801 the French vessel
Géographe sighted land.
They were off the Western Australian coast midway between
present-day Karratha and Port Hedland. Opinion on board was divided
as to whether this land was an island(s) or the mainland. Some of
the charts captain Nicolas Baudin was carrying suggested that they
were looking at the mainland; only their naval chart indicated it
was islands. The
Géographe anchored and at 9 am Baudin sent
an expedition, with naval engineer François-Michel Ronsard in
command, to reconnoitre the land and make soundings. In his official
report, Péron remarked that the naturalists on board the
Géographe implored Baudin to be allowed to go ashore, but were
not given permission. Another small boat, with a midshipman in
command, was sent off to make soundings to the east.
The initial anchorage of the
Géographe is represented on
this map by the anchor symbol and the letter A on the left hand
side. The progress of Ronsard's expedition in the large boat as it
approached the shore, taking depth soundings every mile, is
indicated by the dotted line with depth readings at regular
intervals. The letter B indicates the position of the boat at
midday.
As the other, smaller boat went too far from the
Géographe
to be able return by nightfall, Baudin set sail to render
assistance, subsequently anchoring at a second location. Meanwhile,
Ronsard and his crew landed in a small, sandy cove opposite the
Géographe's original anchorage and set about investigating whether
or not the land they had reached was, in fact, an island. Ronsard
left two men on the beach to guard the boat, instructed two others
to examine the shore and collect shells, and two more to go inland
to gather plants, especially those with flowers or fruit on them.
Ronsard himself, accompanied by master helmsman Marcel Fortin and
another man to carry any interesting specimens they might find, set
off to explore. Ronsard climbed to the top of the rocks on the
eastern part of the island, marked by the letter D on the chart,
where he drew from sight the coast of the mainland, the low, sandy
island with a slight covering of vegetation; and the sand bars. From
point E he could see the low lying mainland marked by the letters M.
The note in the top left corner of the map indicates that it should
only be regarded as a rough drawing rather than an accurate chart.
Above: Rough map of Sable and Debuch islands, drawn by
François-Michel Ronsard in 1801
click here for the full zoomable map
Ronsard reported that the island was about 4-5 miles long and that
it was different from the other islands of the area which were
low-lying and sandy. The terrain was composed of basalt prisms piled
on top of one another. The rocks were generally sharp except where
they had been battered by the sea or streams of rain water. This
made walking difficult. The surface of the rocks was covered in iron
oxide, giving a reddish-brown colour to the island. Vegetation and
rocks formed "gardens" which were pleasant to see and smell, but
otherwise the island was arid. Ronsard collected some plants, taking
care to select what seemed to be of possible interest to the study
of botany. He saw no trace of inhabitants except evidence of fires
and freshly broken pieces of lava. Strangely, he did not appear to
observe any of the Aboriginal rock art that adorns the island. He
saw a kangaroo and a big dog, fawn in colour with a long, drooping,
hairy tail, several birds, a snake as thick as a man's arm, large
grasshoppers, flies, ants, and black butterflies with white spots.
He collected as many shellfish as he could in the time that he had.
That night, having completed their assignment, the expedition set
sail at 10 pm to return to where they had left
Géographe
but, because the ship had moved to a new anchorage, Ronsard's party
sailed through the night without finding it. Baudin had ordered
rockets to be fired from the ship every hour so that the shore party
could locate it, but these signals went unseen. The party finally
sighted the
Géographe at daybreak. According to Péron's
account, Ronsard believed the island to be volcanic. He wrote that,
given no other traces of volcanic activity had been observed in New
Holland thus far, this finding merited further attention, an opinion
not shared by Baudin who, seemingly unconcerned about the scientific
interest of this phenomenon, gave the order to continue the voyage
northward.
The chart indicates that they originally named Depuch Island ‘Ile
des Amiraux’. Baudin had chosen this name in recognition of species
of shell that Ronsard collected there. Jean-Baptiste Leschenault,
naturalist, recorded in his journal that some suggested the island
should be named Trois Fontaines (Three Springs) in order to indicate
to future navigators in the area that fresh water could be found
there. The name Depuch was attributed later by Péron, in honour of
the expedition's mineralogist Louis Depuch. This renaming was
typical of the Baudin voyage in general. Baudin died before he could
return to France and, as Péron had clashed badly with Baudin and was
in charge of writing the official account of the voyage, he and
Louis de Freycinet tended to rename places to suit their own agenda. Péron
and Freycinet were far more likely to name places in honour the
personnel of the expedition, effacing, as in the example of Depuch
Island, a name that was more descriptive of flora or fauna that
could be found there.
The sandy island to the northeast of Depuch is still known as Sable
Island (sable is the French word for sand) and a larger one a little
further up the coast is named after Ronsard.