French journal from 1687 on L’Oiseau ship records first European sighting of Australian coastline

The very first European description of Australia’s coastline has been found in a newly discovered 330-year-old diary written by a surgeon.

The diary tells of the second French voyage to Thailand in 1687 aboard the L’Oiseau, captained by Abraham Duquesne-Guitton, as part of Louis XIV’s royal fleet.

It was one of five ships to leave Brest, in northwestern France, and depart for Cape Town, South Africa, on 1 March, departing for Batavia (Jakarta) on 28 June.

However, a week of fierce storms separated it from the other ships and pushed it eastward, unexpectedly calling at Western Australia, as the ship passed near the Swan River.

The Royal Fleet’s senior surgeon, known as ‘Bremond’, was the first to sight Australian land on 4 August, writing that the entire crew was taken aback by the sight.

‘I was one of the first [to see it] with the chaplain as we walked the poop. At first glance we thought they were a few ships, but as we sailed along at high speed in a short time, we saw that they were rocks,” Bremond wrote.

‘At the very moment we said ‘there is land’, Mr. Duquesne came close to us and we told him that we had just seen land; he climbed on the main shrouds in great surprise [and] found out it was true. Suddenly everyone was very surprised, because everyone was sitting next to each other.’

The surgeon added that he and the captain speculated whether the land was inhabited and by what people.

‘Maybe there’s no one but a few people; what makes one think is that the earlier navigators who had been in these lands found the mark of a man’s foot that was a foot and a half long,” Bremond wrote.

The diary tells of the second French voyage to Thailand as part of Louis XIV’s royal fleet (pictured) in 1687

L’Oiseau’s visit to Western Australia is Australia’s first verified French sighting, with the magazine expected to sell for more than half a million dollars at auction in London this month.

Head of Books and Manuscripts at Christie’s in London, Thomas Venning, said through research that he understood the ship had hit Australia and frantically turned the magazine’s pages for any mention of the country.

Mr Venning explained that he was ‘completely dumbfounded’ when he read ‘terre auxtralles’ in the news.

“It really was a heart-in-mouth moment,” Mr. Venning told the The Sydney Morning Herald.

“I had no idea if he would describe it at all! When I saw the words Terra Australis (or “terre auxtralles” in this rather eccentrically spelled French) in a manuscript from 1688, I was astounded.’

“In 25 years as an autograph specialist at Christie’s, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Mr Venning labeled the diary an ‘extremely rare’ find, as it is believed to be the only 17th century record and earliest record of Australia for sale.

The magazine will be auctioned through Christie’s Private Sales with a starting bid of £350,000 (AUD$643,105).

Historians have recorded the manuscript as the 33rd verified sighting of the Australian coast by a European ship.

The voyage, described in Bermond’s diary, involved 14 Jesuit scientists under Pere Guy Tachard and five warships – including the L’Oiseau, which had 46 guns.

The manuscript was labeled an ‘extremely rare’ find because it describes the journey from France to Batavia (Jakarta). The magazine contains twelve illustrations dedicated to Siam (left and right)

A Sketch of the King of Siam’s Ship with Oarsmen and a Prince’s Ship (pictured)

The trip was part of a more than a decade-long diplomatic exchange between Siam and the French court of Louis XIV, led by mathematician Simon de la Loubere and director of the French East India Company Claude Ceberet.

The manuscript also describes gifts sent by Louis XIV and drawings of the local inhabitants, flora, fauna and topography of the Cape, Siam, Batavia, the Nicobar Islands, Puducherry and Ascension Island.

Twelve illustrations dedicated to Siam show ships, elephants and even King Narai’s palace.

Bremond wrote that Batavia was the ‘most beautiful city in all the East Indies’ and claimed that the city had a significant Chinese population.

The magazine’s author continued his career as a surgeon for another 20 years, even serving in Toulon, France’s main naval port – but little more is known about his life and travels, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

The magazine is said to have changed hands once after it was sold at auction in Christie’s Paris in 2012.

Before 2012, the manuscript was kept in a family’s library in western France – the area where the magazine was written.