A white canoe with blue lines lie overturned on the sand of the small south-facing beach, at the bottom of Fagasa Bay. Evelyn Lili'o Satele takes a seat on it, while I settle beside her, the book resting on my lap. Yesterday, we were exploring Boie des Massacres together; less than 2 hours ago, I was flying over Rose Island, aboard the "Spirit of St Exupery".
Now, Evelyn wants to know everything about Rose de Freycinet. Like Lemanu Peleti Mauga, governor of American Samoa whom we met earlier in the day, she isfamiliar with Rose Island, also called Rose Atoll, of course. She has been living in the region for over 50 years. But neither she nor the governor knew the origin of its name.
The book in my hand is Rose's journal (2). This journal, written aboard the Uranie, a ship commanded by her husband Louis de Freycinet, on which she embarked on a historic, yet dramatic, round-the-world journey from 1817 to 1820.
Page after page, I translate this account from French to English, and we admire the elegant drawings by Rose that embellish the book published in 1927, a hundred years after her death. While reliving her adventures in the Pacific Ocean, we are transported back to the early 19th century.
- Hubert Sagnieres, field notes
April 2024, Fagasa Bay, American Samoa
1 Cover: Caption of the scenery: "View of Rose Island, bearing 0.28°N at 2 miles distance", Caption of the map:" Map of Rose Island (at the Navigator Islands) by Mr. L. I. Duperrey, naval officer, embarked on His Majesty's corvette Uranie, October 1819.", De Freycinet, Louis Claude de SauIces. Voyage around the world, executed on His Majesty's corvettes Uranie and Physicienne during the years 1817-1818-1819-1820, by Mr. Louis de Freycinet, PiIlet Aine, Paris, 1824-1829.
2 De Freycinet, Rose de SauIces. Expedition of the Uranie (1817-1820).Journal of Madame Rose de Saulces de Freycinet, according to the original manuscript with notes by Charles Duplomb, Societe d'editions geographiques, maritimes et coloniales, Paris, 1927.
Flight around the World with the PC-12 "Spirit of St-Exupery" - 2024
Rose Island, American Samoa
On May 4, 1768, Louis Antoine de Bougainville, commander of the Boudeuse, sighted a group of high islands with lush vegetation. He had left the port of Brest, France, in December 1766 for a round-the-world voyage in search of islands in the Pacific Ocean. While in April he had just discovered Tahiti, his east-to-west route was too far north for him to see Rose Island. However, he discovered the Samoa Islands: impressed by the skill of their sailors, he named these islands the Navigator Islands.
In June 1772, James Cook, during his second voyage, followed in Bougainville's footsteps but passed too far south of Rose Island to discover it.
On December 8, 1787, Laperouse was in search of fresh water for his sailors; he had just arrived from Kamchatka and was sailing south aboard the Boussole and the Astrolabe but passed far too west to catch sight of such a small atoll! Then, on December 11, came the tragedy of the Baie des Massacres (3), and Laperouse pressed south towards Australia, as requested by the King of France, Louis XVI.
So, when in October 1819 the Uranie, sailing south from the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), entered the Navigator Islands, Rose Island was not on any map!
3 See my field notes on the Baie des Massacres (April 2024).
Its commander, Louis de Saulces de Freycinet, had married five years earlier Rose Marie Pinon, aged 20, on June 6, 1814. Two years later, he proposed to Louis XVIII, who had ascended the throne in 1815, the realization of a new scientific round-the-world voyage. The proposal was accepted, and Louis de Freycinet, then 37 years old, got to work. Drawing from his experience from a previous expedition (the Baudin expedition), he sought competent naval officers knowledgeable about the subjects to be studied: astronomy, natural history, botany, ethnography. La Ciotat, a three-hundred-and-fifty-ton corvette, was renamed Uranie, after the muse of astronomy, and refitted to accommodate twenty cannons and a crew of one hundred and twenty-six men.
The expedition set sail from Toulon on September 17, 1817, with ensign Louis-Isidore Duperrey and draftsman Jacques Arago on board, among others.
At midnight, a woman disguised as a man secretly embarked: it was Rose, Freycinet's wife, now 23 years old! She hid because since Jeanne Barret4, the rule hadn't changed: women were still forbidden aboard royal ships. Rose's contribution would be exceptional throughout the 3 years of the expedition. She was the first woman to have completed a circumnavigation and told the tale of it. Rose kept her journal day by day, in the form of letters to a friend. In it, she recounted all the adventures that the Uranie was about to experience, from discoveries to tragedies...
On September 12, 1819, Rose wrote in her journal:
"If only we had the good fortune of so many navigators to discover some new island there! I have Louis's promise that if he finds any completely new island, which is not yet known, he will give it my name (5)."
On the morning of October 21, 1819, Louis de Freycinet is at the helm. To starboard, the waves crash against an unknown reef. Louis consults all his maps of the explorers who preceded him in this part of the world: nothing, no mention!
They approach from the north. This atoll is magnificent with its turquoise-blue waters. Thousands of birds escape from the small motu to the northeast. Louis records it in the name of the King and positions it on his maps. In his logbook, he writes:
"I called it Rose Island, after someone who is extremely dear to me." (6)
Rose, for her part, rejoices in a letter to a friend:
"Allow me, Madam, to inform you that the corvette Uranie has discovered, to the east of the Navigator Islands, a small island which is not on any of the most recent maps of these seas, and that the commander of the said corvette has named this island Rose. So it is done, my name is attached to a small point on the globe; indeed quite small,for the envious may perhaps only grant it the name of islet, as it is, encountered at night, it could have been fatal to us, whereas now, marked on the maps of the expedition, it will be avoided, and no one, I hope, will perish on the dangers surrounding Rose Island. (7)"
4 Reputedly the first woman to have circumnavigated the globe during the voyage of Louis-Antoine de Bougainville (1729-1811).
5 De Freycinet, Rose de SauIces. Expedition of the Uranie (1817-1820).Journal of Madame Rose de Saulces de Freycinet, according to the original manuscript with notes by Charles Duplomb, Societe d'editions geographiques, maritimes et coloniales, Paris, 1927, p. 111.
6 De Freycinet, Louis Claude de Saulces. Voyage around the world, executed on His Majesty's corvettes Uranie and Physicienne during theyears 1817-1818-1819-1820, by Mr. Louis de Freycinet, Pillet Aine, Paris, 1824-1829.
Today, in 2024, this island is still called Rose Island! It appears on marine charts, but not on aerial charts. It has become a sanctuary for birds and turtles, and Rose's wish has been granted: no maritime battles have taken place in its vicinity! Rose can rest in peace!
On the morning of April 4, 2024, our day begins with an audience with Lemanu Peleti Mauga, Governor of American Samoa. Every day at 7:15 a.m., he holds morning prayers in his office with his advisors. We were invited as honored guests to talk about our expedition on their territory, our search for testimonies about Laperouse's Baie des Massacres, and our low-altitude flight over Rose Island. A bit astonished, they all discover at once Laperouse's contribution to the American War of Independence and the origins of the name of Rose Island!
This is how we obtain the governor's blessing to carry out all our research. I present each of them with an English copy of my book Daring French Explorations (8) which includes Rose de Freycinet's account and the map of the island made in 1819, a map they were not familiar with!
7 De Freycinet, Rose de SauIces. Expedition of the Uranie (1817-1820). Journal of Madame Rose de SauIces de Freycinet, according to the original manuscript with notes by Charles Duplomb, Societe d'editions geographiques, maritimes et coloniales, Paris, 1927, p. 112.
8 Sagnieres, Hubert, Edward Duyker (FRW). Daring French Explorations, 1714-1854, Trailblazing adventures around the world. Featuring Bougainville, Laperouse, Dumont d'Urville, and more., Flammarion, 2024, ISBN 978-2-08-042845-5.
We head towards Pago Pago Airport. Our Pilatus, fueled up, takes off towards Rose Island. We had long ago entered Rose's GPS coordinates into the Garmin instruments of the plane when we left Montreal. 45 minutes later, there it is: Rose Island facing us. It emerges like a flower from the surface of the ocean.
We make several passes at different altitudes; the pass is clearly visible, as is the motu. To us, it appears much squarer than in Freycinet's survey. However, considering that the Uranie approached from the north, passing the island on the starboard side, and did not complete a full circuit of it, the eastern part of the atoll may be either inaccurate or incomplete.
Back in Pago Pago, I join Evelyn in her village of Fagasa. She wanted to be the first to see all our aerial photos! Meanwhile, we receive word that Ella, the governor's wife, wishes to meet us. Her husband has told her about us.
At the governor's residence overlooking Pago Pago Bay, Ella also wants to know the story of Rose. She listens attentively, nods in approval as I recount the tale, and concludes, "This Rose de Freycinet was a true adventurer; she must be part of our history now!" And suddenly, I am flooded with questions about Rose's life.
Night falls, and Evelyn has joined us for one last dinner together. I meticulously note down the names of everyone we've encountered.
"You know, Evelyn," I remark to her, "everyone here is so captivated by Rose's narrative and astounded that the story has been obscure for so long. Perhaps we should establish a Heritage Trust in Rose's honor."
Evelyn is thrilled by the idea. This trust, which I pledge to fund, will aim to promote the spirit of adventure among the young girls and women of the archipelago, and Rose de Freycinet will remain a beacon of inspiration for generations to come.
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