Antoine Bruni d'Entrecasteaux
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Chevalier Antoine Raymond Joseph de Bruni d'Entrecasteaux |
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Portrait in Voyage to Australia and the Pacific 1791–1793
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| Born |
8 November 1737 Aix-en-Provence |
| Died | 21 July 1793 (aged 55) off the Hermits |
| Cause of death | Scurvy |
| Nationality | French |
| Years active | 1754–1793 |
Antoine Raymond Joseph de Bruni d'Entrecasteaux (French pronunciation: [ɑ̃twan ʁɛmɔ̃ ʒɔzɛf də bʁyni dɑ̃tʁəkasto]) (8 November 1737 – 21 July 1793) was a French naval officer, explorer and colonial governor. He is perhaps best known for his exploration of the Australian coast in 1792, while searching for the La Pérouse expedition. Antoine Bruni d'Entrecasteaux is commonly referred to simply as Bruni d'Entrecasteaux or Bruny d'Entrecasteaux, which is a compound surname (derived from his father's surname, Bruni and the family's origins in Entrecasteaux).
Bruni d'Entrecasteaux was born to Dorothée de Lestang-Parade and Jean Baptiste Bruny, at Aix-en-Provence in 1739. His father was a member of the Parlement of Provence. Antoine Bruni d'Entrecasteaux was educated at a Jesuit school and reportedly intended to become a priest in the Society of Jesus, but his father intervened and enlisted him in the French Navy in 1754. In the action that secured the Balearic Islands for Spain (and resulted in the execution of Admiral Byng), Bruni d'Entrecasteaux was a midshipman aboard the 26-gun Minerve, and in April 1757 he was commissioned as an ensign. His further naval career as a junior officer was uneventful, and he appears in this period to have done general service in the French Navy.
For a time Bruni d'Entrecasteaux was Assistant Director of ports and arsenals, after which (1785) he was transferred to command a French Squadron in the East Indies. During this service he opened up a new route to Canton by way of the Sunda Strait and the Moluccas, for use during the south-east monsoon season. He was then appointed Governor of the French colony of Isle de France (now Mauritius).
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