The explorer's first love, and the start of his naval career. In this unpublished, indeed unrecorded group of long letters written over three years, between the ages of 18 and 22, D'Urville proclaims his love for his young cousin Louise, glories in her acceptance of his devotion, and finally describes his broken heart as her father discovers their relationship and forbids it.

The explorer's first love, and the start of his naval career. In this unpublished, indeed unrecorded group of long letters written over three years, between the ages of 18 and 22, D'Urville proclaims his love for his young cousin Louise, glories in her acceptance of his devotion, and finally describes his broken heart as her father discovers their relationship and forbids it.

In the course of these long letters, which together run to some 8000 words, he details his training and early service in the navy and is open in announcing his ambitions. He will make rear-admiral, he announces whilst still a midshipman.

Even at this early age we see his sharp intellect and an exceptional ability to express himself and to describe events and feelings. Although the correspondence sheds an important light on d'Urville's development and early career it was not available to his most recent biographer, Edward Duyker, for his exhaustive account of the explorer's life, and would have had an important place in the early chapters in which he discusses the making of the man. Duyker mentions Louise once in passing, when he notes that Adèle, whom Dumont married in 1815, was "well received" by Louise on a family visit. Did she know of their earlier connection?

D'Urville was born into the minor aristocracy in Normandy. His father died when he was seven years old and his mother, Jeanne Françoise de Croisilles, arranged for his education to be taken over by his uncle – also Louise's uncle – the formidable Abbé de Croisilles, who had a profound influence on his student. D'Urville is said to have excelled at his studies. Certainly, we see him in these letters as highly literate and articulate and it is easy to understand how he would become "one of France's foremost authors on geographical discovery and major travel writers of the nineteenth century" (Duyker).

The correspondence tells a complete story. In the first letter he declares his love for his young cousin; three months later he is fully expressing his love and discussing his naval training and his ambitions in both love and war. Two years on he further declares his love despite her discouragements, while describing his first experience of a naval action; and two months after that letter he is pleading his cause, proclaiming that despite Louise's suggestion, friendship can be no substitute for the love that he feels; he evidently persuades her and their affair continues, only – as we learn from the final letter – to be ended by a terrible family scene and Louise's father's opposition.

Less than three years after that harsh end to his affair with Louise, d'Urville married Adèle Dorothée Pepin, the daughter of a watchmaker, in May 1815. His mother would have nothing to do with her, nor with their children, as she felt her to be beneath d'Urville's station. Knowing this, one wonders whether in naming Croisilles Harbour in the Marlborough Sound d'Urville may have someone other than his mother in mind.

A full descriptive cataloguing of the correspondence is available at hordern.com by searching 5000794.

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1. ALS, expressing his love and discussing his naval training and his ambitions.

3 pp., quarto, manuscript in brown ink on double sheet of laid paper; addressed on the back of the second sheet; small tear due to broken seal without loss.

Approximately 1200 words.

Le Havre, aboard the frigate Amazone, 21 March 1809.

Intense letter from Jules Dumont d'Urville to his cousin Louise de Croisilles..

The young d'Urville, in love, reveals his ambitions. He hopes to obtain permission during the summer to spend time with his cousin for whom he has a strong passion. He evokes their games of trictrac (and their shared uncle the Abbé de Croisilles).

"But it is more than doubtful whether I can have this sweet satisfaction. Our frigate at this time will be fully armed; my service will be more extensive and rigorous, and it is unlikely that I will obtain a leave of absence. Thus, when I return from my campaign, in 3 or 4 years, I will have completely forgotten trictrac and Checkers, and you will have the pleasure of beating me completely at either game". ("Mais il est plus que douteux que je puisse avoir cette douce satisfaction. Notre frégate à cette époque sera entièrement armée; mon service sera plus étendu et plus rigoureux et il est peu probable que j'obtienne une permission de m'absenter. Ainsi, au retour de ma campagne, dans 3 ou 4 ans, j'aurai totalement oublié le trictrac et les Dames et tu auras le plaisir de me battre complètement à l'un et l'autre jeu".)

"You are no doubt astonished to see me list dancing among the arts that I want to acquire; you will be surprised that a man who is as unsuited to society as I am should wish to learn to dance; I confess that given my particular tastes, I would hardly have considered it, but just think that once I am a rear-admiral, as I always hope to become unless some ill-intentioned ball and chain come to stop me in my illustrious career, to maintain the brilliance of my rank, I will be obliged to give a ball from time to time, sometimes even smoothing my usual rough edges and the nature of a seaman to take part myself; then there will be no time to learn to dance, so it must be planned in advance. Forgive me this sortie, my dear Louise: I have a strong dose of ambition". ("Tu es sans doute étonnée de me voir mettre la danse au rang des arts que je veux acquérir, tu seras surprise qu'un homme aussi peu fait que moi pour la société, veuille apprendre a danser; je t'avouerai que pour mon goût particulier, je n'y aurais guère songé, mais tu penses bien que lorsque je serai devenu contre-amiral, comme j'espère toujours le devenir à moins que quelque boulet mal intentionné ne vienne m'arrêter dans mon illustre carrière, pour soutenir l'éclat de mon rang, je serai obligé de donner bal quelquefois, de dépouiller même parfois ma rudesse habituelle et le caractère d'homme de mer pour y figurer; alors il ne sera plus temps d'apprendre à danser, il faut donc y songer d'avance. Pardonne-moi cette saillie, ma chère Louise, comme j'ai une forte dose d'ambition.")

Only his cousin can make his heart beat like this, he says, although at this stage she seems to have spurned him. "I will no longer burden you about my feelings towards you; I am blushing right now, not for having been able to fall in love with you, but for having dared to make such a declaration" ("Je ne t'importunerai plus touchant mes sentiments à ton égard; je rougis actuellement non pas d'avoir pu t'aimer, mais d'avoir osé hasarder une declaration".)

"This has provided me with a lesson which I will remember for a long time. I repeat it to you, until this the fair sex had not been able to make any impression on me and I even generally disdained women; only you could soften my heart and open it to the sweet impressions of love… I will force my heart into silence whatever it may cost me… I can say for certain that no woman in the future, however accomplished she may be, will excite in me such a lively and exalted affection as I had conceived for you, and above all that no woman will ever obtain such a confession from me…". ("Elle m'a d'ailleurs procuré une leçon dont je me souviendrai longtemps. Je te le répète, jusqu'alors le beau sexe n'avait pu faire impression sur moi et je méprisais même assez généralement les femmes; toi seule a pu attendrir mon cœur et l'ouvrir aux douces impressions de l'amour… Je forcerai mon cœur au silence quoiqu'il m'en coûte… Ce que je puis au moins assurer, c'est qu'à l'avenir aucune femme quelqu'accomplie qu'elle soit n'excitera en moi une affection aussi vive aussi exaltée que celle que j'avais conçue pour toi et surtout que jamais femme n'obtiendra de moi de pareils aveux…".)

2. ALS to "ma chère Cousine".

4 pp., quarto, manuscript in ink on paper, tightly written in a neat small hand; small tear due to broken seal affecting some line ends.

Approximately 700 words.

Le Havre, aboard the frigate Amazone, 23 June 1809.

An insight into the personality and character of the young midshipman.

D'Urville expresses his joy and emotion to have received a letter from Louise. Although he claims to have resigned himself to accept no more than a friendly relationship, his thoughts are constantly turned towards her. He talks to her about her writing and her style, then responds to her advice.

"Louise, you advise me to go into society and see people; I don't care at all for various reasons that I can explain to you. First of all, I don't like it, and secondly, I am young and only an aspirant; I must still think only of acquiring new knowledge, which frequenting the world would not allow me to do. Besides, my present salary would not be sufficient to cover the expenses… Once I am an ensign and even a rear-admiral, I will be able to make this expenditure; in the meantime I can do without it very well. You want to know if dancing amuses me; on the contrary, it bores me very much, and that is natural enough, I have no taste for it, only reason makes me learn it, only propriety will make me practice it". ("Louise, tu me conseilles d'aller en société et de voir du monde; je ne m'en soucie nullement pour diverses raisons que je puis t'expliquer. D'abord je ne m'y plais pas, ensuite je suis jeune et ne suis qu'aspirant, je ne dois encore songer qu'à acquérir de nouvelles connaissances, ce que la fréquentation du monde ne pourrait guerres me permettre. D'ailleurs mes appointemens actuels ne pourraient suffire à la dépense… Une fois enseigne de vaisseau et même contre-amiral, je pourrai faire cette dépense là; en attendant je m'en passerois très bien. Tu désires savoir si la danse m'amuse; tant s'en faut qu'au contraire cela m'ennuye très fort, et cela est assez naturel, je n'y ai ni goût ni dispositions, la raison seule me la fait apprendre, la bienséance seule me la fera pratiquer".)

He then evokes Louise's trip to Bayeux and the "so cheerful, so amiable and so good-hearted character" of his uncle the abbot [who had taken charge of d'Urville's education after his father's death]. Finally, in a postscript, he gives, not without a touch of jealousy and apparent bitterness, news of Louise's friend, Benerais, who had embarked with him. "For his part, he's certainly not waiting for you to matchmake for him, because for a month or two, he has been assiduously courting a Beauty, who seems to entirely occupy his affections…". ("De son côté, il n'attend pas que tu lui choisisses ta procuratrice, car depuis un mois ou deux, il fait assidument la cour à une Beauté, qui paraît occuper entièrement ses affections…".)

3. ALS describing his first experience of a naval action along with his love for his cousin.

4 pp., small folio, manuscript in ink on paper, tightly written in a neat small hand; small tear due to broken seal affecting some line ends.

Approximately 2500 words.

Toulon, aboard the Suffren, 5 August 1811.

Dumont d'Urville in love, and seeing his first naval action.

A magnificent and long letter, upwards of 2200 words, in which Dumont d'Urville, aged twenty-one, writes to his cousin Louise, the young woman with whom he is now deeply in love. He describes his life in the navy and gives a dramatic description of his first experience of naval combat. He expresses his joy that Louise's feelings finally match his own.

The tone of the letter in which he indulges in shared reverie has a finely erotic tone. He has been rereading Louise's letters.

"Since the last time I wrote to you, we have had a small skirmish with the enemy squadron, the details of which you may be pleased to learn. Having learned that two of our frigates, the Amélie and the Adrienne, coming from Genoa, were on their way to Toulon, our general had us sail with 13 ships and one frigate to help them enter and support them against the attacks of the enemy who could easily cut off their passage. We had set sail at 9:30 am, at 10 am we saw our frigates; we were then two leagues from the enemy squadron, 14 ships strong, and five others five to six leagues away. One of their advanced ships threatened to cut off our frigates, but one of ours, which was within range of it, forced it to turn around. At 11 o'clock, the frigates had rallied us, so the head of the enemy was within range of us…" ("Depuis la dernière fois que je t'ai écrit, nous avons eu avec l'escadre ennemie une petite escarmouche dont tu apprendras peut être avec plaisir les détails. Ayant appris que deux de nos frégates l'Amélie et l'Adrienne venant de Gênes faisaient route pour Toulon, notre général nous fit appareiller au nombre de 13 vaisseaux et une frégate pour favoriser leur entrée et les soutenir contre les attaques de l'ennemi qui pouvait facilement leur couper le passage. Nous avions mis à la voile à 9 h ½, à 10 h nous aperçûmes nos frégates; nous nous trouvions alors à deux lieues de l'escadre ennemie forte de 14 bâtimens outre cinq autres à cinq à six lieues de distance. Un de leurs vaisseaux avancés menaçait de couper la route à nos frégates, mais un des nôtres qui se trouva à bonne portée de lui, lui en imposa et le fit virer de bord. À 11 heures, les frégates nous avaient rallié, alors la tête de l'ennemi se trouva à portée de nous…".)

The exchange of fire started with our frigates, there were several broadsides sent by the leading ships on both sides. But finally, just as we were about to start firing, the Englishman, leaving behind that character of audacity and even impudence which characterizes him at sea, abandoned us, took to the sea again and let us return quietly in good order. It is certain that if the English had wanted to, this affair could have become very bloody and perhaps decisive, but even though nearly 800 cannon shots were fired on both sides, the ships of both parties were evenly matched for slight damage. At least the French did not have anyone injured. I want to share with you a reflection which struck me at the time. In the midst of the roar of the cannon which was already rumbling on all sides, in the midst of the sinister preparations for battle, in spite of all my efforts to keep the necessary composure to carry out the orders appropriate to the circumstances, I could not defend myself from a secret feeling of joy, a kind of elation of which I was not in control. This position of mind surprised me, even distressed me, because I did not believe myself made for scenes of blood and carnage. Perhaps I would have changed my mind if the battle had been pushed further…". ("Le feu commença par nos frégates, il y eut plusieurs bordées d'envoyées par les vaisseaux avancés de part et d'autre. Mais enfin au moment que nous allions aussi commencer à faire feu, l'Anglais quittant ce caractère d'audace et même d'impudence qui le caractérise sur mer, nous abandonna, reprit le large et nous laissa tranquillement rentrer en bon ordre. Il est certain que si l'Anglais eût voulu, cette affaire eût pu devenir très sanglante et peut-être décisive, mais quoi qu'il y ait eu près de 800 coups de canon tirés de part et d'autre, les bâtimens des deux partis en ont été quittes pour de légères avaries. Du moins les Français n'ont eu personne même de blessé. Je veux te faire part d'une réflexion qui alors m'a singulièrement frappé. Au milieu du fracas du canon qui grondait déjà de tous côtés, parmi les sinistres apprêts du combat, malgré tous mes efforts pour conserver le sang-froid nécessaire pour faire exécuter les ordres convenables à la circonstance, je ne pouvais me défendre d'un sentiment secret de joie, d'une sorte d'allégresse dont je n'étais pas maître. Cette position d'esprit m'étonna, m'affligea même, car je ne me croyais pas fait pour les scènes de sang et de carnage. Peut-être aussi aurais-je changé d'idée si le combat eût été poussé plus loin…").

In rereading Louise's letters, he recalls their former complicity, the country walks they used to take together on the heights of Lalandelle.

"One moment I thought I was still at your side, then you walked in front of me and I followed with my eyes the undulating folds of your dress, as you preceded me on this narrow and muddy path… finally leaving those paths, here muddy, there sandy, we climbed together up towards the church and could see the whole of Lalandelle. Do you remember how we wished for good fortune, and the plans we made for the chateau… My greatest happiness, even madness, is to come ashore and go far from the city, to a beach that juts out into the sea in the shape of a peninsula, to climb up to the top, and to sit on a steep rock. There, far from any habitation, quiet and free from any distraction, I give myself up to my reflections at leisure. Plunged into a deep reverie, some of the time I revisit all the times spent next to you and the various episodes around them: at other times I carefully reread each of your letters one after the other and I experience increasing tenderness… My deceived comrades attribute my love for solitude to misanthropy and to a passion for study. They are persuaded that the indifference which I affect for women, I extend without restriction to the whole sex. I leave them to their error and save myself the jokes they would not fail to add to those which my way of thinking and my conduct already attract. However, I have succeeded, and this is quite difficult, in attracting their friendship without following their tastes: I think I can even assure you that there is no one on board, from the commander to the last sailor, who does not sincerely wish me well". ("Un moment je me suis encore cru à tes côtés, puis tu marchais devant moi et je suivais des yeux les plis ondoyans de ta robe, tu me précédais dans ce chemin étroit et fangeux… enfin sortis de ces endroits ici bourbeux, ailleurs saboteux, nous gravissons ensemble la hauteur en approchant de l'église et découvrons entièrement Lalandelle. Te rappelles-tu nos souhaits de fortune et nos projets sur le château… Mon plus grand bonheur, ma folie même est de descendre à terre loin de la ville, sur une plage qui s'avance dans la mer en forme de presqu'île, de monter sur la hauteur, et de m'asseoir sur une roche escarpée. Là, loin de toute habitation, tranquille et dégagé de toute distraction, je me livre à loisir à mes réflexions. Tantôt plongé dans une profonde rêverie, je passe en revue le temps passé près de toi et les diverses époques qui y ont rapport; tantôt je relis attentivement chacune de tes lettres l'une après l'autre et je finis toujours par m'attendrir insensiblement… Mes camarades trompés attribuent mon amour pour la solitude à la misanthropie et à la passion de l'étude. Ils sont persuadés que l'indifférence que j'affecte pour les femmes, je l'étends sans restriction sur le sexe entier. Je les laisse dans leur erreur et m'évite des plaisanteries qu'ils ne manqueraient pas d'ajouter à celles que m'attirent d'ailleurs ma manière de penser et ma conduite. J'ai cependant réussi, chose assez difficile, à m'attirer généralement leur amitié sans suivre leurs goûts; je crois même pouvoir assurer qu'il n'est personne à bord depuis le commandant jusqu'au dernier des matelots, qui ne me veuille sincèrement du bien".)

Then he recounts at length the memory that gave rise to his passion for her, when he had injured his foot along a river and she nursed him back to health and wanted to keep him at home.

Finally, "I am going to end my epistle here, for a long time my comrades sleeping around me have been warning me that I must do the same, it is nearly half past one, I have spent a good part of the night writing to you without even realizing it. One hears no more than the slight sound of the guards' footsteps walking on deck mixed with that of the waves…" ("Je vais terminer ici mon épître, depuis longtemps mes camarades endormis autour de moi m'avertissent que je dois en faire autant, il est près d'une heure et demie, j'ai passé une partie de la nuit à t'écrire sans même m'en apercevoir. L'on entend plus que le bruit silencieux du pas des sentinelles qui se promènent sur le pont mêlé à celui des vagues…").

4. ALS, written aboard ship, speaking of his love and recounting anecdotes of life at sea.

4 pp., small folio, manuscript in ink on paper; small tear due to broken seal affecting a couple of words.

Approximately 1650 words.

Toulon, aboard the Suffren, 5 October 1811.

Friendship no substitute for love

A long intimate letter full of love for his cousin and evoking family memories. "I believe, my pretty cousin, that you would be wrong to claim that you are richer in memories than I am. There is a good reason for that: I was your lover, but had to strike out that word, and you could only be my friend: so everything that made a deep impression on my heart could only strike you lightly: I want to quote to you a peculiarity that will make you judge of the value I attached to the smallest things that came to me from you. Do you remember that a few moments before leaving St Rémy for the last time, we went down together to the garden and that there you chose a beautiful red carnation that you placed in my buttonhole; Well, mademoiselle, I kept this carnation for three days, I who had never bothered to keep a flower for even two hours; not content with that, so as not to lose it, I then took it out of my clothing and brought it back religiously in this pretty little purse that you had given me two years before…". ("Je crois, ma jolie cousine, que tu aurais tort de te prétendre plus riche en souvenirs que moi. Il est une bonne raison pour cela; j'étais ton amant, il faut trancher le mot, et tu n'étais que mon amie; ainsi tout ce qui faisait une profonde impression sur mon cœur ne pouvait que te frapper légèrement; je te veux citer une particularité qui te fera juger du prix que j'attachais aux moindres choses qui me venaient de toi. Te souviens-tu que quelques moments avant de quitter St Rémy pour la dernière fois, nous descendîmes ensemble au jardin et que là tu choisis un bel œillet rouge que tu plaças toi-même à ma boutonnière; eh bien, mademoiselle, cet œillet je le conservai trois jours, moi qui ne m'étais jamais soucié de garder une fleur seulement deux heures; non content de cela, pour ne pas le perdre, je le retirai ensuite de mon habit et le ramenai religieusement dans cette jolie petite bourse que tu m'avais donnée deux ans auparavant").

Stationed in the harbour of Toulon, he quickly evokes maritime life: "I am always so happy with my ship, the staff, my service… We continue to go out from time to time to exercise our crews and show ourselves for a moment to the English…". ("Je suis toujours aussi content de mon vaisseau, de l'état-major, de mon service… Nous continuons à sortir de temps à autre pour exercer nos équipages et nous montrer un instant aux Anglais…").

5. ALS, written aboard ship, mourning the end of their affair.

3 pp., quarto, written in brown ink on a double sheet of laid paper, address panel on verso of second sheet; small tear due to broken seal affecting a few words.

Approximately 1750 words

Toulon, aboard the La Ville de Marseille, 14 November 1812.

His heart is broken by Louise's father's opposition

Dense and moving letter written after their reunion, which ended in tears, Louise's father, after a violent argument, opposing their affair. "I'm arriving just now, crushed, overcome by the journey… I confess to you, Louise, with the lightning shattering at my feet, that the sight of a friend armed with a dagger to pierce my heart, would have struck me with a blow less cruel, less violent than those dreadful reproaches. In vain I sought to call on my pride to repel them; I just couldn't handle the idea that they were addressed to me by your own in his house, that the recriminations fell on you, my friend, for whose honour, for whose reputation I would have sacrificed both my happiness and my blood: and for the first time perhaps in my life, tears flowed in abundance from my eyes…". ("J'arrive à l'instant même, écrasé, moulu par la route… Je puis te l'avouer, Louise, la foudre tombant en éclats à mes pieds, la vue d'un ami armé d'un poignard pour percer le cœur, m'eut frappé d'un coup moins cruel, moins violent que ces affreux reproches. Vainement j'eus voulu m'armer de fierté pour les repousser; je ne pus résister à l'idée qu'ils m'étaient adressés par ton propre père dans sa propre maison, qu'ils retombaient sur toi, mon amie, à l'honneur, à la réputation de qui j'eûsse sacrifié mon bonheur et mon sang; et pour la première fois peut-être de ma vie, des larmes coulèrent en abondance de mes yeux…").

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