After having served
in the Seven Years War, Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne, Sieur de
Fresne, returned to France to take successive command of four
ships from La Compagnie des Indes : "Le Comte d'Argenson", "Le
Vengeur, "Comte d'Artois" and "Digue". This was between the years
of 1761 and 1768.
However, when La Compagnie des Indes dissolved du Fresne found
himself in the same position as that of Jean François Marie
de Surville (mentioned above) - unemployed.
In search of employment and finance, du Fresne presented a project
to Pierre Poivre, Civil Administrator of the Ile de France. One
of the aims of the project was to explore the South Pacific, in
the hope of locating Terra australis incognito. du Fresne's proposition
was accepted, and two ships were prepared for the voyage : the
"Mascarin", with du Fresne in command and Jules Crozet as 2nd
Captain, and the "Marquis de Castries", a 16 gun ship with Ambroise-Bernard-Marie
du Clesmeur in command.
In October 1771 the two ships set
sail from France, arriving at the Cape of Good Hope on 2nd December.
Here, supplies to last 18 months were taken onboard, and it was
not before 28th December that the ships left the Cape.
Three months later, on 25th March
1772, the Frenchmen sighted New Zealand - and in particular a
snow-covered peak rising out of the horizon, "land having the
appearance of a small island where one could see two white patches".
du Fresne named this mountain of New Zealand Le Pic Mascarin,
quite unaware that Captain James Cook had already given it the
name of Mount Egmont.
All along the coastline the French
noticed signs of life. du Fresne decided to look for sheltered
anchorage on the north coast of the mainland. A suitable bay was
sighted on 15th April, a bay "which seemed very pretty, and is
near a large headland we called Thumb Mountain on account of it's
The two ships continued a northerly course, keeping as close
to the coastline as possible, passing by Hokianga Harbor. Fresh
water was in urgent need, but that which was found in the Thumb
Mountain area was not particularly drinkable, so the two ships
pulled in to another bay further north, which they named Cape
No water at all was to be found at Cape Aeolus, and the ships
were obliged to turn back to the "Thumb Mountain" bay. The two
bays where the Mascarin and the Marquis de Castries anchored were
Spirits Bay (known today as Anchor Cove, or Kapowairua, at the
far northerly tip of New Zealand) and Tom Bowling Bay. Cape Aeolus
was Cap Surville, known today as Kerr Point.
here for a map (25k) showing the position of Spirits Bay)
Suddenly, on the morning of the 17th April a strong gale commenced,
placing the two ships in great peril. By the end of the day du
Fresne gave orders to weigh anchor in order to save the ships.
In the rush, five anchors had to be abandoned. On the 26th April
the Mascarin returned to Spirits Bay to try and locate the five
abandoned anchors. Only two could be found.
On 28th April 1772, the Mascarin and the Marquis de Castries
set sail for the east. On 10th May, they arrived south of Moturua
Island which they named Ile Marion, (also recorded as Port Marion)
again not realising that Cook had already named the area The Bay
of Islands. The two ships laid anchor near the present day town
of Russell, in the Bay of Islands.
Repairs on the ships commenced, and extremely friendly relations
with the Māori were established. During this time du Fresne
made a number of visits inland, exploring, hunting, fishing, and
making more and more friends with the Māori.
For some time the French remained in the Bay of Islands repairing
their ships, replenishing supplies, tending to their scurvy victims
and trading with the Māori. Relations with the Māori continued
on a warm and friendly basis.
However the French, perhaps not fully understanding the consequences,
committed the crime of desecrating a "tapu" (extremely prohibited,
sacred, untouchable by human contact) area, situated at "Tacoury's
Cove" (Te Hue, or today's Manawaora Bay). Some members of the
local tribe had drowned here some time earlier, and their bodies
had been washed up at Tacoury's Cove. It was in this area that
du Fresne had been fishing one day, in spite of Māori warnings
about the extreme "tapu" of the area.
On learning of the presence of
du Fresne fishing in the "tapu" bay, the simmering anger of
exploded. An act of desecration would not only incur the wrath
of the gods on the local tribe, but would also infuriate neighbouring
tribes, bringing the possibility of war. An angered group of
warriors set on Marion du Fresne, who had unsuspectingly arrived
in his favourite fishing area in a small "gig" accompanied
by twelve men.
There were actually other theories as to exactly why the
Māori suddenly turned against du Fresne, and these will be
included here in due course.
Along with Marion, the ill-fated fishing party was made up this
day of : de Vaudricourt and Lehoux, Pierre - a volunteer, Thomas
Ballu of Vannes, Pierre Mauclair - the second pilot, from St Malo,
Louis Menager - the steersman from Lorient, Vincent Kerneur of
Port-Louis and Marc Le Garff, from Lorient, Marc Le Corre of Auray,
Jean Mestique of Pluvigner, Pierre Cailloche of Languidic and
Mathurin Daumalin of Hillion.
Several hundred Māori attacked the French, killing Marion
and the 26 members of the fishing party.