Joseph Frederick Wallet DesBarres (22 November 1721 – 27 October 1824) was a Canadian

cartographer Cartography (; from , 'papyrus, sheet of paper, map'; and , 'write') is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an imagined reality) can ...

who served in the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

, as the aide-de-camp to

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

James Wolfe Major-general James Wolfe (2 January 1727 – 13 September 1759) was a British Army officer known for his training reforms and, as a major general, remembered chiefly for his victory in 1759 over the French at the Battle of the Plains of ...

. DesBarres is perhaps best known as the creator the monumental four-volume '' Atlantic Neptune'', the most important collection of maps, charts and views of North America published in the eighteenth century. He later went on to serve as the Lieutenant-Governor of Cape Breton Colony and later as Lieutenant-Governor of

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island is an island Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. While it is the smallest province by land area and population, it is the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...

. Colonel DesBarres is buried with his wife under

St. George's (Round) Church, Halifax, Nova Scotia St. George's (Anglican) Round Church is a wooden round church in the neo-Classical Palladian style located in Halifax Regional Municipality in Downtown Halifax. Construction on the church began in 1800 thanks in large part to the financial backin ...

Early life

DesBarres, who is seen as having lived through important changes in

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

's history, is thought to have been born in

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

, Switzerland (although

Montbéliard Montbéliard (; traditional ) is a town in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France, about from the border with Switzerland. It is one of the two subprefectures of the department. History Montbéliard is ...

has also been suggested), and was a member of a

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

family. His parents were Joseph-Leonard Vallet DesBarres and Anne-Catherine Cuvier and he was the eldest of their three children. DesBarres read mathematics and art at the University of Basel, studying under John and

Daniel Bernoulli Daniel Bernoulli ( ; ; – 27 March 1782) was a Swiss people, Swiss-France, French mathematician and physicist and was one of the many prominent mathematicians in the Bernoulli family from Basel. He is particularly remembered for his applicati ...

. Upon the completion of his studies he left for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

.Jerry Lockett. ''Captain James Cook in Atlantic Canada''. The adventurer & Map Maker's Formative Years. Formac Publishing Company Limited, Halifax, NS. 2011. There he enrolled at the

Royal Military Academy, Woolwich The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of Officer (armed forces), commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers o ...

. It was there that DesBarres trained to become a

military officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer (NCO), or a warrant officer. However, absent c ...

, and studied military surveying. His training would also benefit him later in life for

surveying Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the land, terrestrial Plane (mathematics), two-dimensional or Three-dimensional space#In Euclidean geometry, three-dimensional positions of Point (geom ...

, map making, and coastal charting. In 1756 he was commissioned into the Royal Americans (the 62nd Foot later known as the

60th Foot The King's Royal Rifle Corps was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army that was originally raised in British North America as the Royal American Regiment during the phase of the Seven Years' War in North America known in the United Sta ...

Seven Years' War

In 1756 DesBarres sailed to North America and was with

Edward Boscawen Admiral of the Blue Edward Boscawen, Privy Council (United Kingdom), PC (19 August 171110 January 1761) was a Royal Navy officer and politician. He is known principally for his various naval commands during the 18th century and the engagements ...

's fleet when it attacked the

Fortress of Louisbourg The Fortress of Louisbourg () is a tourist attraction as a National Historic Sites of Canada, National Historic Site and the location of a one-quarter partial reconstruction of an 18th-century Kingdom of France, French fortress at Louisbourg, Nov ...

in 1758. He distinguished himself by capturing a French entrenchment at Kennington Cove. Soon he was put to work charting the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the approaches to Quebec, information that would be used the following year in

's assault on the City of Quebec. In 1760 he was at Halifax to prepare plans for the city's defences and naval yard.

Jonathan Binney Jonathan Binney (January 7, 1723/24 – October 8, 1807) was a merchant, judge and political figure in Nova Scotia. He was a member of the 1st to 3rd Nova Scotia House of Assemblies from 1758 to 1765. He arrived in Nova Scotia in 1753. ...

and DesBarres met the

Mi'kmaw The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Mi'kmaw'' or ''Mi'gmaw''; ; , and formerly Micmac) are an Indigenous group of people of the Northeastern Woodlands, native to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces, primarily Nova Scotia, New Bru ...

chiefs at

Arichat, Nova Scotia Arichat is an unincorporated village in the Municipality of the County of Richmond, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is the primary settlement on Isle Madame, off the southeastern tip of Cape Breton Island. Toponym The name derives from a Mi'kmaq wo ...

, in 1761, and concluded a lasting peace. By 1762 he was sent to

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...

to survey Harbour Grace and Carbonear and to draw up plans for new harbour defences to replace those destroyed by the French.

James Cook Captain (Royal Navy), Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 176 ...

was sent as his assistant. (DesBarres may have met Cook earlier at either Louisbourg or Halifax.)

Castle Frederick

DesBarres established an estate at

Falmouth, Nova Scotia Falmouth ( ) is an unincorporated community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located along the Avon River in Hants County between Mount Denson and Windsor. History Falmouth and the surrounding area was known as Pisiquid by the Ac ...

, known as Castle Frederick, which served as his base of operations from 1764 until he returned to England in 1773. The 1770 Nova Scotia census indicates Castle Frederick had a staff of 41 men, 13 women, 5 boys, and 33 girls. One of the women, Mary Cannon, served as housekeeper and manager of Castle Frederick from 1764 to 1794. She also administered tenant farmers on DesBarres' land holdings of in

Tatamagouche Tatamagouche (; ; ) is a village in Colchester County, Nova Scotia, Canada. Tatamagouche is situated on the Northumberland Strait 50 kilometres north of Truro and 50 kilometres west of Pictou. The village is located along the south side of Tat ...

, in

New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...

and approximately in

Maccan Maccan is a small community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in Cumberland County 10 minutes away from Amherst, Nova Scotia on Route 302. The word Maccan is derived from the Mi'kmaq word 'Maakan' meaning a good place for fishing. ...

, Nappan, and

Minudie Minudie is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in Cumberland County about from River Hebert. Once a thriving town with a population peaking about 1870 at more than 600 people, Minudie today still has three churches but ...

. His Tatamagouche holdings formed the western coastal boundary of the

Philadelphia grant The Philadelphia grant describes of land along the south shore of the Northumberland Strait between Tatamagouche and Pictou, Nova Scotia. Following expulsion of the Acadians, the British government distributed Acadian land to various landlords und ...

Atlantic Neptune

DesBarres made many maps of the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

, mapping the coast of North American from Newfoundland to New York. His survey of the coast of

took approximately ten years due its length and intricacy. DesBarres 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 Castle Frederick to complete his charts and drawings. His most notable work is the ''Atlantic Neptune''. In 1774 under direction for the British Admiralty, DesBarres 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 United Empire Loyalist (UEL; or simply Loyalist) is an honorific title which was first given by Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester, the 1st Lord Dorchester, the governor of Province of Quebec (1763–1791), Quebec and Governor General, governor ...

, Cape Breton was created as a separate colony from Nova Scotia (as was New Brunswick) and DesBarres served as the

lieutenant governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

Cape Breton Cape Breton Island (, formerly '; or '; ) is a rugged and irregularly shaped island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18.7% of Nova Scotia's total area. Although ...

from 1784 to 1787. He laid out the original plan of the capital,

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. He was later governor of

from 1804 to 1812.

Dalhousie University Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia, Canada, with three campuses in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, a fourth in Bible Hill, Nova Scotia, Bible Hill, and a second medical school campus ...

has a number of items of Colonel DesBarres 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 DesBarres is buried

. 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) Church in 1824.

Publications

* '' Atlantic Neptune'' (atlas of Eastern North America)

Legacy

The following road is named after DesBarres: * Des Barres St., Sydney, Nova Scotia

References

External links

Archaeological excavations of his home, Castle Frederick
{{DEFAULTSORT:Des Barres, Joseph Frederick Wallet 1824 deaths People from Basel-Stadt Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich Swiss cartographers Canadian cartographers Canadian men centenarians Swiss men centenarians Lieutenant governors of Cape Breton Island Swiss military engineers Canadian military engineers Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada) Royal American Regiment officers Lieutenant governors of the Colony of Prince Edward Island 18th-century Swiss military personnel 19th-century Swiss military personnel 1720s births Swiss emigrants to pre-Confederation Canada