science

Nicolas Baudin

Nicolas Baudin is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Nicolas Baudin rather than just read about it. In short: Nicolas Thomas Baudin (French: [nikɔla bodɛ̃]; 17 February 1754 – 16 September 1803) was a French explorer, cartographer, naturalist and hydrographer best known for his explorations of Australia and the southern Pacific Ocean. He carried a few corms of Gros Michel banana from Southeast Asia, depositing them at a botanical garden on the French colony of Martinique.

Key takeaways

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Reproduce the core statement of Nicolas Baudin from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Nicolas Thomas Baudin (French: [nikɔla bodɛ̃]; 17 February 1754 – 16 September 1803) was a French explorer, cartographer, naturalist and hydrographer best known for his explorations of Australia and the southern Pacific Ocean. He carried a few corms of Gros Michel banana from Southeast Asia, depositing them at a botanical garden on the French colony of Martinique.

Biography

Early career Born a commoner in Saint-Martin-de-Ré on the Île de Ré on 17 February 1754, Nicolas Baudin joined the merchant navy as an apprentice (pilotin) at the age of 15; he was then "of average height with brown hair". He then joined the French East India Company at the age of 20 on Flamand. He returned from India on L'Étoile and arrived at Lorient. At the beginning of 1778, he set sail from Nantes on Lion as second lieutenant. It was a ship equipped by his uncle, Jean Peltier Dudoyer, at the request of the Americans, which would become a privateer and be renamed Deane. At first the Minister for the Navy was against it, but he finally changed his mind and authorised the departure, as France had signed a treaty with the United States on 6 February. Since the atmosphere between the French and American crews on Lion became unbearable, Baudin was assigned by Lamotte-Picquet to Duc de Choiseul, a ship equipped by Jean Peltier Dudoyer. Officially it was heading for Saint-Domingue, but in fact the destination was Nova Scotia. However the vessel was shipwrecked at Liverpool, Nova Scotia. Baudin was wounded, taken prisoner by the British on 24 April 1778 and interned in Halifax, Canada. After one month, he escaped with 10 other prisoners and hid among the friendly communities of Acadia. Appointed captain of the transport vessel Amphitrite, he was sunk by the English 160 nautical miles (290 km) out to sea, rescued in a rowing boat and made his way to Cape Cod and then Boston. As captain of Revanche, 400 tons, equipped by Jeange and sons of Bordeaux, with 30 men and 12 cannon, he was retaken by the English outside Cap-Français, heading for Boston. He was taken to Jamaica as a prisoner, then exchanged at the request of the Comte d'Argout, the Governor of Saint-Domingue. He returned to France on board the frigate Minerve, under the command of Captain de Grimouard, who was later guillotined at Rochefort under the Convention. Back in France, he was appointed captain at the admiralty of La Rochelle on 2 March 1780 and was to sail in merchant ships. At the age of 27 he was named captain of Apollon, a civilian frigate of 1,100 tons and 42 cannon, fitted out by Jean Peltier Dudoyer. He was to form part of the convoy which took the Legion of Luxembourg to strengthen the defence of the Dutch Cape Colony at the Cape of Good Hope. However, during a stopover in Brest, the Comte d'Hector decided he would appoint a man with more experience, Felix de Saint-Hilaire. Having returned to Nantes, and to the annoyance of Beaumarchais, the owner of the vessel, Baudin's uncle entrusted him with the command of Aimable Eugenie, a ship of 600 tons, to go to Saint-Domingue and then to the US. He went back to Bordeaux and left the Gironde on 9 December 1782 as part of a convoy of five merchant vessels. Three days later, in the Action of 12 December 1782, the convoy was attacked by an English ship, HMS Mediator. After a hard battle, Baudin escaped, but two other ships owned by Beaumarchais were captured. Reaching Saint-Domingue, the ship sank on 23 March 1783 at Puerto Plata, but the freight was saved. He negotiated for it and set off once again for Nantes on 23 April on Prince Royal, which he had bought on the spot. On 30 August he resold the boat, which in the meantime had become Union des 6 Frères, to Robert Pitot, a shipbuilder from the Isle de France who had just been freed from an English prison, and established himself as a trader in Bordeaux. The insurance company reimbursed Beaumarchais through his shipbuilder Peltier Dudoyer. On 16 April 1784, Baudin left once more for Saint-Domingue on Comte d'Angevillier, 1,000 tons with eight cannon, and built by Jean Peltier. He was still accompanied by his brother Alexandre Baudin as first mate. They were now 29 and 27 years old. Baudin had a 25% stake in the voyage and they returned to Nantes on 8 December 1784. On 21 April 1785, he wrote to Benjamin Franklin requesting a recommendation to be accepted as a member of the Society of the Cincinnati. He signed his letter 'Commander of the private frigate Comte d'Angevilliers, Maison Peltier du Doyer quai de l'hôpital'. On 22 July 1785, the Baudin brothers bought Caroline, a ship of 200 tons, built by the Thébaudière brothers. He was to take the last Acadians to Louisiana. He was a few months behind his brother Alexandre who was captain of Saint Remy, built by Jean Peltier Dudoyer. In La Nouvelle Orléans local merchants contracted him to take a cargo of wood, salted meat, cod and flour to Isle de France (now Mauritius), which he did in Josephine (also called Pepita), departing New Orleans on 14 July 1786 and arriving at Isle de France on 27 March 1787. In the course of the voyage, Josephine had called at Cap‑Français in Haiti to make a contract to transport slaves there from Madagascar; while in Haiti he also encountered the Austrian botanist Franz Joseph Märter, who apparently informed him that another Austrian botanist, Franz Boos, was at the Cape of Good Hope awaiting a ship to take him to Mauritius. Josephine called at the Cape and took Boos on board. At Mauritius, Boos chartered Baudin to transport him and the collection of plant specimens he had gathered there and at the Cape back to Europe, which Baudin did, with Josephine arriving at Trieste on 18 June 1788. The Imperial government in Vienna was contemplating organizing another natural-history expedition, to which Boos would be appointed, in which two ships would be sent to the Malabar and Coromandel coasts of India, the Persian Gulf, Bengal, Ceylon, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Cochin China, Tongking, Japan, and China. Baudin had been given reason to hope that he would be given command of the ships of this expedition.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Nicolas Baudin

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Nicolas Baudin claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Nicolas Baudin before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Nicolas Baudin ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Nicolas Baudin

In research: Nicolas Baudin appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Nicolas Baudin in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Nicolas Baudin is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1754 births, 1803 deaths, 18th-century French explorers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Nicolas Baudin outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Nicolas Baudin in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Nicolas Baudin means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Nicolas Baudin out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Nicolas Baudin in simple terms?

Why does Nicolas Baudin matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Nicolas Baudin?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Nicolas Baudin.