A not so Pacific voyage: the ‘floating laboratory’ of Nicolas Baudin

Nicolas Baudin's voyage to Australia in 1800 was particularly fractious. Many officers and scientists deserted. When stories of mission mismanagement leaked back to France, Baudin's reputation – and the public reputation of the expedition as a whole – was left in tatters. All was not Baudin's fault, however. Scientific rivalries – disputes over credit and quarrels over mission priorities – undermined his mission from the start, and explain why his attempt to use a ‘public’ journal to foster teamwork backfired. Unable to control his floating laboratory's paperwork, Baudin became an ‘invisible commander’. After the expedition returned, naturalist François Péron assumed credit for its work.