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Jean-Baptiste Bouvet
1705 - 1786
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Biography
Lozier studied navigation and in 1731 he earned the rank of Lieutenant in the Compagnie des Indes. On 19 July 1738, Bouvet set sail from Lorient on a route for Santa Catarina Island. On 10 December 1738 they crossed the 44th parallel, after experiencing unsatisfactory weather conditions, and on 16 December they came upon the first penguins. On 1 January 1739 Bouvet discovered a piece of the Antarctic continent, which he called "the Cape of Circumcision" and on 25 January, Bouvet's crew became severely ill, so they had to sail for the Cape of Good Hope. They arrived there on 24 February 1739.
On 24 June 1739, after three months at sea, they arrived back at Port Lorient. In 1822 and American, Benjamin Morrell, reached the Cape of Circumcision and renamed it Bouvet's Island.
Te Papa Whale exhibition in Washington, DC