Joseph Frederick Wallet DesBarres

Des Barres

Colonel Joseph Frederick Wallet Des Barres (22 November 1721 – 27 October 1824 (or 24 October 1824)) was a cartographer who served in the Seven Years' War, in part, as the aide-de-camp to General James Wolfe. He also created the monumental four volume Atlantic Neptune, which was the most important collection of maps, charts and views of North America published in the eighteenth century. Finally, he was the Governor of Cape Breton Island and Prince Edward Island. Colonel Des Barres is buried with his wife in the crypt of St. George's (Round) Church, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Early life

Des Barres, who is seen as having lived through important changes in Nova Scotia's history, is thought to have been born in Basel, Switzerland, and was a member of a Huguenot family. His parents were Joseph-Leonard Vallet Des Barres and Anne-Catherine Cuvier and he was the eldest of their three children. Des Barres read mathematics and art at the University of Basel, studying under John and Daniel Bernoulli. Upon the completion of his studies he left for England. There he enrolled at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. It was there that Des Barres trained to become a military officer, and studied military surveying. His training would also benefit him later in life for surveying, map making, and coastal charting. In 1756 he was commissioned into the Royal Americans (the 62nd Foot later known as the 60th Foot).

Seven Years' War

Further information: Great Britain in the Seven Years War

In 1756 Des Barres sails to North America and is with Edward Boscawen's fleet when it attacks the Fortress of Louisbourg in 1758. He distinguishes himself by capturing a French entrenchment at Kennington Cove. Soon he is put to work charting the Gulf of St. Lawrence and approaches to Quebec, information that will be used the following year in Wolfs's assault on the City of Quebec. In 1760 he is at Halifax to prepare plans for the city's defences and naval yard. By 1762 he is sent to Newfoundland to survey Harbour Grace and Carbonear to draw up plans for new harbour defences to replace those destroyed by the French. James Cook was sent as his assistant. (Des Barres may have met Cook earlier at either Louisbourg or Halifax.)

Atlantic Neptune

Main article: Atlantic Neptune

Des Barres made many maps of the Atlantic, mapping the coast of North American from Newfoundland to New York. His survey of the coast of Nova Scotia took approximately ten years due its length and intricacy. Des Barres was exasperated with the work stating "There is scarcely any known shore so much intersected with Bays, Harbours, and Creeks as this is" "and the Offing of it is so full of Islands, Rocks, and Shoals as are almost innumerable." The survey work was carried out in the summer and in the winter he would retire to his estate, Castle Frederick, in Falmouth, Nova Scotia to complete his charts and drawings. His most notable work is the Atlantic Neptune. In 1774 under direction for the British Admiralty, Des Barres compiled and edited his and many others' charts and maps of eastern North America. The completed work was published in 1777, having cost the Admiralty an estimated £100,000.

Governor

To accommodate the arrival of the United Empire Loyalists, Cape Breton was created as a separate colony from Nova Scotia (as was New Brunswick) and Desbarres served as the lieutenant governor of Cape Breton Island from 1784 to 1787. He laid out the original plan of the capital, Sydney. He was later governor of Prince Edward Island from 1804 to 1812. Dalhousie University has a number of items of Colonel Des Barres in one of its archive collections.

He died at the age of 102, and his date of death is variously given as 24 and 27 October. Colonel Des Barres is buried St. George's (Round) Church, Halifax, Nova Scotia. While he was buried beside his wife Martha, he was survived by his mistress Mary Cannon and their four children. His funeral took place in St. George's Round Churchin 1824.

Publications

• Atlantic Neptune (atlas of Eastern North America)

Legacy

• Des Barres St., Sydney, Nova Scotia

See also

• Military history of Nova Scotia
• List of cartographers

Further reading

• Stephen J. Horns. Surveyors of Empire: Samuel Holland, J.F.W. Des Barres, and the Making of The Atlantic Neptune. McGill/ Queen's University Press. 2011.
• LD Kernaghana. A Man and his Mistress: J.F.W. Des Barres and Mary Cannon. Acadiensis. 1981
• Evans, G.N.D, Uncommon Obdurate: The several public careers of J. F. W. Des Barres, Boston/Toronto: Peabody Museum/University of Toronto Press, 1969
• Bird, Will, an Earl Must Have a Wife, Toronto: Clarke Irwin, 1969
• The Nova Scotia Historical Quarterly, Volume 5, Number 2, 1985, contains several articles about Des Barres:

• Robert J, Morgan, "Des Barres the Founder"
• Stephen B. MacPhee, "Des Barres and His Contemporary Mapmakers"
• Douglas B. Foster, "Des Barres the Town Planner"
• Lois K. Kernaghan, "'A Most Excentric Genius': The Private Life of J. F. W. Des Barres"
• Mary Ellen Wright, "'You come late Monsieur le'Governor. Why you not come before?'"

External links

• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
• Archaeological excavations of his home, Castle Frederick
• The Atlantic Neptune