Daring French Explorations

Daring French Explorations is an exceptional homage to adventure.
Intrepid French mariners—including legendary explorers Lapérouse, Bougainville, and Dumont d’Urville, and unsung sailors La Barbinais, Pagès, and Roquefeuil—embark readers on sixteen voyages around the world from 1714 to 1854.
A selection of firsthand accounts culled from their maritime travelogues recounts the trials and tribulations the explorers encountered as they charted new routes to remote territories. Their unfiltered observations on wide-ranging themes—from geopolitics and commerce to climate change and global cultures—resonate with contemporary issues.
This handsome volume—featuring many previously unpublished illustrations, engravings, and maps—traces their extraordinary scientific, diplomatic, or commercial expeditions, which significantly marked the history of world exploration.

Driven by a spirit of adventure and a passion for expeditions, inveterate collector Hubert Sagnières has drawn from his extensive library to curate this unprecedented introduction to the glory days of French naval history.
Award-winning author Edward Duyker is a fellow at the Australian Academy of the Humanities.