History of Micronesia: A Collection of Source Documents: Vol. 21 Freycinet Expedition, 1819-1826
Levesque, Rodrigue (2003). History of Micronesia: A Collection of Source Documents: Vol. 21 Freycinet Expedition, 1819-1826. 21. Gatineau, Québec: Lévesque Publications. ISBN 978-0-920201-21-3.
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Abstract: HOM.21 documents the later stages of the Louis-Claude de Freycinet expedition and the voyage of Louis-Isidore Duperrey aboard the corvette Coquille, covering the period 1819–1826. The volume assembles translated logbooks, journals, official records, and narratives from French officers and other contemporary observers, offering detailed firsthand accounts of voyages through Micronesia and the western Pacific. Geographically, the documents focus heavily on the Caroline Islands and Mariana Islands, especially the islands of Pulusuk, Puluwat, Tamatam, Pulap/Ollap, and Fanadik in the central Carolines and Guam, Rota, Tinian, and Saipan in the Marianas. The expeditions carried out extensive hydrographic observations and mapping, including detailed descriptions and charts of Umatac Bay, Port San Luis de Apra, and Tarofofo Harbor on Guam, along with surveys of surrounding islands and reefs. Accounts also record encounters with Carolinian navigators and island communities, noting trade exchanges, canoe construction, navigation by stars and currents, and aspects of local social life and customs. The narratives introduce numerous figures active in Pacific exploration, science, and colonial administration, including Spanish colonial officials such as José de Medinilla y Pineda and French scientific officers such as Jean René Constant Quoy, Joseph Paul Gaimard, and Jules Dumont d’Urville. The documents also reference Spanish colonial administration in Guam, Carolinian migration to the Marianas, visiting whaling vessels and trading ships, and maritime incidents including the mutiny of the whaling ship Globe, illustrating the wider maritime networks connecting Micronesia with Manila, Acapulco, and other Pacific ports in the early nineteenth century.
