Chevalier de Rossel

Elisabeth-Paul-Edouard de Rossel - better known as Chevalier de Rossel - was born in 1765 and died in Paris in 1829. He was a Member of the French Academy of Sciences (President in 1818) and the Bureau des Longitudes. He joined the French navy in 1780 as a 15-year-old and particpated in campaigns in the West Indies in 1781 and 1782. He accompanied Bruny D'Entrecasteaux on the expedition to search for the lost la Perouse ships and wrote a two-volume official account of the expedition. An atlas to accompany the volumes was published by C F Beautemps-Beaupre. In 1827 de Rossel was appointed head of the French Hydrographic Board.