Kergelen

Kerguelen entered European geographical knowledge during the search for a supposed southern continent. Louis XV commissioned Yves Joseph de Kerguelen de Trémarec to seek land south of Saint-Paul and Amsterdam. Sailing from Mauritius with the Fortune and Gros-Ventre, his expedition sighted the archipelago on 12 February 1772. He returned to France announcing a southern continent, which he called France Australe.

The discovery proved to be a group of cold oceanic islands. In 1776 James Cook gave them Kerguelen's name. Exploration was followed by commercial visits from Europe and America. Hunters sought fur seals for clothing and killed whales and elephant seals for oil used in lighting and machinery. Temporary camps connected these remote shores with distant markets. Stormy waters and reefs made the pursuit hazardous, and the islands' early maritime history combined ambitious geographical claims with the extraction of marine wildlife.