ALS written on board the Thétis

An intriguing letter sent from on board Hyacinthe de Bougainville's command the Thétis to Monsieur Bajot, who is noted as being the editor of the Annales Maritimes published by the Ministry of the Marine in Paris. Louis-Marie Bajot was associated with the Ministry for most of his life, and was the driving force behind the publication of the Annales Maritimes, an important annual that published the latest news of naval affairs and regulations, together with long articles and notes on voyages and other maritime matters.

The naval officer André-Antoine-Émilien Gay, baron de Taradel, writes that though he is a subscriber, he finds that he is missing the recent volumes; he has just embarked on the Thétis and expects to sail shortly, just at the moment when he might conceivably profit from having the volumes to hand. The Annales Maritimes, first published in 1816, published all manner of notes and articles on all manner of questions relating to navigation, including references to the Baudin and Freycinet voyages. Bougainville and the Thétis did sail in July 1822 to Martinique to trial the vessel, but did not sail on the circumnavigation until 1824, including making a long stay at Sydney.