First French circumnavigation Boudeuse, under
Antoine de Bougainville, departed from
Nantes on 15 November 1766 for the first French
circumnavigation of the globe, along with the
Étoile. On board was the botanist
Philibert Commerçon and his valet, later unmasked by the ship's surgeon as
Jeanne Baré, Commerçon's mistress; she would become the first woman to circumnavigate the globe. The expedition saw islands of the
Tuamotu group on the 22 March. On 2 April they saw the peak of
Mehetia and famously visited the island of
Otaheite shortly after. de Bougainville narrowly missed becoming their discoverer, unaware of a previous visit, and claim, by
Samuel Wallis in
HMS Dolphin less than a year previously. Bougainville claimed the island for France and named it
New Cythera. They left Tahiti, with
Ahutoru aboard, and sailed westward to southern
Samoa and the
New Hebrides, then on sighting
Espiritu Santo turned west still looking for the "Southern Continent". On June 4 he almost ran into heavy breakers and had to change course to the north and east. He had almost found the
Great Barrier Reef. He sailed through what is now known as the
Solomon Islands that, due to the hostility of the people there, he avoided. Bougainville named them
Bougainville Island for himself. The expedition was attacked by people from
New Ireland so they made for the
Moluccas. At
Batavia they received news of
Wallis and
Carteret who had preceded Bougainville. On 16 March 1769 the expedition completed its circumnavigation and arrived at
Saint-Malo, with the loss of only seven out of upwards of 200 men, an extremely low level of loss, and a credit to Bougainville's enlightened management of the expedition. In 1775-76
Boudeuse underwent refitting at
Brest.
American Revolutionary War Boudeuse later took part in the
American War of Independence under Lieutenant
Grenier. On 13 January 1779, she captured the 16-gun sloop
HMS Weazel off
Sint Eustatius. The French took
Weazel to the Antilles where they disarmed her by taking all her guns for Admiral
d'Estaing's squadron. They then sold her at Guadeloupe in 1781. On 28 February,
Boudeuse took
Saint Martin island. On 6 July 1779, she participated in the
Battle of Grenada as a member of the rear guard.
French Revolutionary Wars During the
French Revolutionary Wars, in the
action of 8 June 1794,
Boudeuse captured from the Sardinian Navy the 36-gun former French frigate
Alceste. The British had captured
Alceste in
Toulon harbour in August 1793 and then handed her over to the Sardinians.
Last journey On 28 January 1799,
Boudeuse, under the command of Lieutenant Calaman, sailed from Toulon to Malta.
Boudeuse was loaded with essential supplies for the beleaguered French garrison in Malta which at the time was
under a blockade. The French garrison under the command of General
Claude-Henri Belgrand de Vaubois had withdrawn to the fortified cities found around the Grand Harbour basin following an armed insurrection by the Maltese back in September 1798. Portuguese and Royal Navy ships were assisting the Maltese rebellion by imposing a sea blockade on French shipping, thus cutting off French supplies. Under the cover of inclement weather,
Boudeuse managed to run the blockade and on 4 February 1799 she entered the French-controlled
Grand Harbour and moored under the
Lower Barracca. In July 1800, the French authorities broke up
Boudeuse for firewood because supplies of firewood for bakeries had run out. ==See also==