Letters from the Du Petit-Thouars expedition to Tahiti and South America, on the corvette Somme. manuscript
A collection of illustrated letters in French from Dupetit-Thouars's 1842-1845 circumnavigation, written by one of the officers on the expedition. Charles Hulot served on the corvette Somme, which was statined at Tahiti protecting French Catholic missionaries.
The present letters provide an eyewitness account at a time of French colonial expansion in the Pacific. The collection comprises twenty-four holograph letters by Hulot to his family. The letters are illustrated with approximately 75 original pen and ink drawings throughout, including a sketch map of Valparaiso, coastal views, portraits on board the Somme, as well as Tahitians and Marquesans.
The final letter ends with a sketch of a French sailor (perhaps a self portrait) thumbing his nose at the British flag.
There are also two separate watercolors: the first in black wash, shows officers practicing sabers on the deck of the Somme; the second, in color, represents a native hut immersed in vegetation. Hulot departed from Toulon on November 17, 1842, and his letters include descriptions of Rio Janeiro, Valparaiso, as well as Tahiti and Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas Islands.
The letters form a kind of journal of the voyage itself as the Somme sailed into the Pacific, with mention of the positions of several warships beloning to the fleet under the command of Admiral Dupetit-Thouars during the French intervention in the Marquesas Islands (1842-1844). Hulot describes the towns and villages he visits, including topography, botany, and the inhabitants and their customs, including hunting parties, meals, and the like. The letter written between Jan. 20 - April 20, 1843 includes a summary of the political and military situation in the Marquesas. We learn that Hulot has read the voyage accounts of Cook, Mendana, and he also refers to Dumont d'Urville, who was undertaking his own circumnavigation at this time.
On reaching the islands, Hulot describes the Marquesans who came out to meet the French on their boats, all heavily tattooed and who immediately commenced trading - bone earrings for tobacco and cloth, etc. The folded letter sheets are occasionally sewn together, and many of the letters include useful captions summarizing locations and dates.
Born in Metz, Charles Hulot (1824-1845) had been newly promoted to lieutenant at the time of the present letters. His career was cut short, when, according to the Annales Maritimes et Coloniales (vol. 31, 1846), he died on April 10 on board the Uranie, which was at Tahiti at that time. In his final entry (January 18, 1845) he mentions the Uranie would likely depart Tahitian waters, but evidently that did not happen.