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Vendee Globe 2008/09
www.vendeeglobe.org/en - Übersicht
11.12.2008
Tagesvideos Annäherung Kerguelen Isls.
Kerguelen - 'the desolate islands'
The French expedition headed by Yves-Joseph de Kerguelen-Trémarec never went far enough south to catch sight of Heard Island… In fact, rather disappointed by the barren and desolate land they discovered while searching for a hypothetical “Southern continent” (Terra Australis Incognita), the ship quickly headed back towards Europe without even taking proper possession of the land. More importantly, they left without even attempting to search for the second vessel that was part of the expedition, from which Admiral Kerguelen and his crew had been separated due to bad weather during the voyage.
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Kerguelen-'desolate islands'
© TAAF
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But back in France in July 1772, while telling King Louis XV about his discovery, Kerguelen strangely twisted the truth, embellishing his discovery so much that La Pérouse wrote “He was welcomed like a new Colombus”. Quickly, a second expedition was set up in order to establish a colony and French presence in this new “paradise” and although Kerguelen and his crew had seen nothing but rocks, sparse vegetation and terrible weather conditions, strangely enough members of the original expedition were saying exactly what the authorities wanted to hear, becoming increasingly entangled by their lies. The second expedition ended up, after many incidents, with the arrest of Admiral Kerguelen himself: the boat he had been separated from during the first voyage had finally made it back to France in the meantime, and its officers, who had taken possession of the land in the name of the King, told the truth about its desolate nature…Furthermore, Kerguelen had taken the risk of hiding his mistress aboard the vessel, which led to many disputes and jealousy-driven clashes when she was discovered by the other officers. The explorer fell from grace and was imprisoned, before being rehabilitated during the French revolution. It has never clearly been established, despite a long and extensive trial, if Kerguelen had deliberately lied, or if he had simply succumbed to his delusional beliefs, reindexing obsessively convinced that somewhere a Southern promised land really existed.
Kerguelen
© J.Ballay
The episode seems to have been so embarrassing for the French authorities that it took them a whole century to actually officially acknowledge the possession of this territory.
Geographical coordinates: 49° 20’ S, 70° 12’ E (Port aux Français)
Kerguelen
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