---
title: "European and American voyages of scientific exploration"
chunk: 6/11
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_and_American_voyages_of_scientific_exploration"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:39:10.846547+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

Commander: lieutenant Louis Isidore Duperrey (1786–1865)
Second: lieutenant Jules Dumont d'Urville, botanist (1790–1842)
Physician-naturalist: the surgeon, pharmacist and zoologist René Primevère Lesson (1794–1849) and surgeon-major Prosper Garnot (1794–1838)
Astronomer: Charles Hector Jacquinot (1796–1879)
Illustrators: Jules Louis Lejeune (1804–1851), Jacques Arago (1790–1855)
Hydrographer: Victor Charles Lottin (1795–1858)
Publications: Lesson and Garnot, Voyage autour du monde exécuté par ordre du roi sur la corvette La Coquille (1828–32)/Journey around the world on the corvette La Coquille (Paris, six volumes, 1826–1830).

==== 1823–26: Predpriyatiye ====
An expedition of two ships of war, the main object of which was to take reinforcements to Kamchatka. There was, however, a staff of scientists on board the Russian sailing sloop Predpriyatiye (Russian: "Enterprise"), who collected much valuable information and material on geography, ethnography and natural history. The expedition, proceeding by Cape Horn, visited the Radak and Society Islands, and reached Petropavlovsk in July 1824. Many positions along the coast were mapped more accurately, the Navigator islands visited, and several discoveries made. The expedition returned by the Marianas, Philippines, New Caledonia and the Hawaiian Islands, reaching Kronstadt on 10 July 1826.

Captain: Otto von Kotzebue (1787–1846)
Physician-naturalist: Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz (1793–1831) and Dr. Lenz
Publication: O. von Kotzebue, Reise um die Welt in den Jahren 1823, 24, 25 und 26, von Otto von Kotzebue, ... (Weimer, 1830).

==== 1824–25: HMS Blonde ====

In 1824 Byron was chosen to accompany homewards the bodies of Hawaiian monarchs Liholiho (known as King Kamehameha II) and Queen Kamāmalu, who had died of measles during a state visit to England. He sailed in HMS Blonde in September 1824, accompanied by several naturalists and, amongst others, his lieutenant, Edward Belcher.
He toured the islands and made observations. With the consent of Christian missionaries to the islands, he also removed wooden carvings and other artifacts of the chiefs of ancient Hawaii from the temple ruins of Puʻuhonua O Hōnaunau.
On his return journey in 1825, Lord Byron discovered and charted Malden Island, which he named after his surveying officer, Mauke; and Starbuck Island. Starbuck was named in honour of Captain Valentine Starbuck, an American whaler who had sighted the island while carrying the Hawaiian royal couple to England in 1823–1824, but which had probably been previously sighted by his cousin and fellow-whaler Captain Obed Starbuck in 1823.

Captain: George Anson Byron (1789–1868)
Naturalists: Andrew Bloxam (1801–1878) and James Macrae
Published by: G.A. Byron, Voyage of H.M.S. Blonde to the Sandwich Islands, in the years 1824–1825. The Right Hon. captain. Lord Byron order. (London, 1826).

==== 1824–26: Le Thétis and L'Espérance ====

A French mission to establish diplomatic relations with Indochina and make geographical observations. On 12 January 1825, Hyacinthe de Bougainville led an embassy to Vietnam with Captain Courson de la Ville-Hélio, arriving in Da Nang, with the warships Thétis and L'Espérance. Although they had a 28 January 1824 letter from Louis XVIII, the ambassadors could not obtain an audience with Minh Mạng.

Captains: Hyacinthe de Bougainville (1781–1846) (Le Thétis) and Paul de Nourquer du Camper (L'Espérance)
Surgeon-naturalist: François Louis Busseuil (1791–1835)

==== 1825–28: HMS Blossom ====

A British expedition to the Bering Sea attempting a rendezvous with the expedition of Sir John Franklin (1786–1847) at the mouth of the Mackenzie River. Blossom reached as far north as Point Barrow, Alaska, the furthest point into the Arctic any non-Inuit had been at the time, but was unable to join the Franklin expedition. With Lay ill it was Beechey and Collie that performed most of the specimen collection but many could not be preserved.

Captain: Frederick William Beechey (1796–1856)
Physician-naturalist: Alexander Collie (1793–1835)
Naturalist: George Tradescant Lay (1800?–1854)
Publication: F.W. Beechey, Narrative of a Voyage to the Pacific and Behring's Strait" (1831), "The Zoology of Captain Beechey's voyage to the Pacific and Behring's Strait. (1839).

==== 1825–30: HMS Adventure and HMS Beagle ====
The mission was the hydrographic survey of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, under the overall command of the surveyor Commander Phillip Parker King, in HMS Adventure.
In the desolate waters of Tierra del Fuego Stokes, the captain of HMS Beagle, became depressed and shot himself on 2 August 1828 dying a few days later. Parker King replaced Stokes with Lieutenant W.G. Skyring as commander of the ship, and both ships sailed to Montevideo. After the ships arrived at Rio de Janeiro for repairs and provisioning, Rear Admiral Sir Robert Otway, the Commander-in-chief of the South American station, gave command of Beagle to his aide, Lieutenant Robert FitzRoy. Fuegians were taken back with them when the Beagle returned. During this survey, the Beagle Channel was identified and named after the ship.

Captain: Philip Parker King (1793–1856) (Adventure) and Pringle Stokes (?–1828) (Beagle)
Naturalist: James Anderson (1797–1842)
Publication: P.P. King, Narrative of the first surveying voyage of H. M. ships ″Adventure″ and ″Beagle″, between the years 1826 and 1836, describing their examination of the Southern shores of South-America and the ″Beagle's″ circumnavigation of the world ... Vol. i. [containing the proceedings of the first expedition, 1826–1830 under the command of captain P. Parker King "(London, 1839).]

==== 1826–29: L'Astrolabe ====
This mission, led by Dumont d'Urville, searched for the two vessels of La Pérouse (1741–1788). The coasts of Australia, of New Zealand, of Fiji and the Loyalty Islands were explored. Dumont d'Urville renamed La Coquille as L'Astrolabe as a tribute to the ship of La Pérouse.

Captain: Jules Dumont d'Urville (1790–1842)
Physician-naturalist: Joseph Paul Gaimard (1796–1858) and Jean René Constant Quoy (1790–1869)
Pharmacy-botanist: René Primevère Lesson (1805–1888)
Publications: J. Dumont d'Urville, Voyage of the Astrolabe. (14 volumes, 1830–1835).