Supported by Napoleon, Nicolas Baudin led an expedition to discover more of the southern land mass – specifically to chart the unknown southern coast of New Holland. Baudin’s ships, Géographe and Naturaliste, departed from Le Havre on 19 October 1800 with a large crew of scientists that included zoologist François Péron (1775–1810) and cartographer and naturalist Louis de Freycinet (1779–1842), both of whom would play a large part in the way Baudin’s voyage was to be seen by history.
