Mouillage de Korora-Reka (Baie des Iles)

Famous lithograph of the the Bay of islands from the accounts of Dumont D’Urville’s final voyage of exploration and the second in the Astrolabe.

A view from above Russell looking down into the bay, with 16 ships at anchor and two others in the distance. The houses of Russell can be seen below to the left and in the foreground pedestrians and horsemen pass by on a road.

Shown are numerous ships at anchor including the French ships, Astrolabe and Zelle. After exploring the southern regions Dumont D’Urville the ships sailed to the Pacific visting many of the islands, Singapore, Batavia, and reached Hobart at the end of 1839. After a short period of rest in Hobart the ships headed south again on January 1, 1840, this time reaching about 64°S and found themselves suddenly surrounded by icebergs. On January 19, land was sighted, it was completely covered with snow so high it was impossible to see the summit. D’Urville named the coast, Terre Adelie after his wife. The expedition had established the approximate position of the magnetic pole and d’Urville felt that their task had been accomplished and left Antarctica and headed for New Zealand.

From Dumont d’Urville, Atlas pittoresque, Voyage au pole sud et dans l’Oceanie.

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