Collection GB 0064 BOG - Bougainville, Louis Antoine De (1729-1811)

Identity area

Reference code

GB 0064 BOG

Title

Bougainville, Louis Antoine De (1729-1811)

Date(s)

  • [1729-1811] (Creation)

Level of description

Collection

Extent and medium

1 box

Context area

Name of creator

Biographical history

Bougainville served in the French army in Canada, where he was aide-de-camp to Montcalm (1712-1759). In 1763 he sailed on a private enterprise to colonise the Falkland Islands with French Canadian refugees but when France sold her interest in the islands to Spain in 1766, he sailed to the South Seas and in the next three years circumnavigated the world. He subsequently proposed undertaking a voyage towards the North Pole hut his scheme was dropped when the Duc de Choiseul (1719-1785) was dismissed in 1770. In 1775 Bougainville was granted naval rank and was second-in-command to de Grasse (1722-1788) in the West Indies during the American War of Independence. In 1791 he was offered the post of Ministre de la Marine but refused it. He narrowly escaped the guillotine and he later enjoyed the patronage of Napoleon. In 1796 he was elected to the Institut National. He was also a member of the Bureau des Longitudes and a Fellow of the Royal Society of London. See Jean Etienne Martin-Allanic, Bougainville, navigateur et les decouvertes de son temps (Paris, 1964).

Archival history

GB 0064 BOG [1729-1811] Collection 1 box Bougainville , Louis Antoine , De , 1729-1811 , Admiral, French Navy

Bougainville served in the French army in Canada, where he was aide-de-camp to Montcalm (1712-1759). In 1763 he sailed on a private enterprise to colonise the Falkland Islands with French Canadian refugees but when France sold her interest in the islands to Spain in 1766, he sailed to the South Seas and in the next three years circumnavigated the world. He subsequently proposed undertaking a voyage towards the North Pole hut his scheme was dropped when the Duc de Choiseul (1719-1785) was dismissed in 1770. In 1775 Bougainville was granted naval rank and was second-in-command to de Grasse (1722-1788) in the West Indies during the American War of Independence. In 1791 he was offered the post of Ministre de la Marine but refused it. He narrowly escaped the guillotine and he later enjoyed the patronage of Napoleon. In 1796 he was elected to the Institut National. He was also a member of the Bureau des Longitudes and a Fellow of the Royal Society of London. See Jean Etienne Martin-Allanic, Bougainville, navigateur et les decouvertes de son temps (Paris, 1964).

The papers were purchased through the Caird Fund from the sale of the Bougainville collection at Sotheby's in 1957.

Papers of Louis Antoine De Bougainville including a personal memoir on navigation between Europe and Canada by an unknown seaman, a draft by Bougainville concerning the Duc de Choiseul and the proposed voyage to the North Pole and a collection of notes made during Bougainville's completion of his 'Essai historique sur les navigations anciennes et modernes dans les hautes latitudes septentrionales', Memoires de l'Lnstitut National des Sciences et Arts: Sciences morales at politiques, Tome 3, An 9.

Please contact the Archive for further information.

Please contact the Archive for further information.

French

Detailed catalogue online at the: National Maritime Museum website .

Edited by Sarah Drewery, Jun 2011.

Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

2010-08-26 Canada North America Bougainville , Louis Antoine , De , 1729-1811 , Admiral, French Navy Travel Navigation Arctic

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

The papers were purchased through the Caird Fund from the sale of the Bougainville collection at Sotheby's in 1957.

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Papers of Louis Antoine De Bougainville including a personal memoir on navigation between Europe and Canada by an unknown seaman, a draft by Bougainville concerning the Duc de Choiseul and the proposed voyage to the North Pole and a collection of notes made during Bougainville's completion of his 'Essai historique sur les navigations anciennes et modernes dans les hautes latitudes septentrionales', Memoires de l'Lnstitut National des Sciences et Arts: Sciences morales at politiques, Tome 3, An 9.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Please contact the Archive for further information.

Conditions governing reproduction

Please contact the Archive for further information.

Language of material

  • English

Script of material

  • Latin

Language and script notes

French

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Finding aids

Detailed catalogue online at the: National Maritime Museum website .

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

Related units of description

Related descriptions

Notes area

Alternative identifier(s)

Access points

Subject access points

Place access points

Name access points

Genre access points

Description control area

Description identifier

Institution identifier

National Maritime Museum

Rules and/or conventions used

Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Status

Level of detail

Dates of creation revision deletion

Language(s)

  • English

Script(s)

    Sources

    Accession area