Engraving of Carteret Harbour and New Guinea Canoes (Astrolabe)

This ancient illustration reproduces a plate presenting various canoes and naval carpentry pieces from Carteret Harbour (New Ireland) and northern New Guinea. The composition brings together several shape and outrigger studies, annotated to identify geographical provenances. The harmony of brown and red colors reinforces the documentary character of these ethnographic drawings.

The image is part of the iconographic corpus of the voyage of the corvette Astrolabe (1826-1829). Under the aegis of Dumont d'Urville, the expedition artists documented the diversity of Melanesian maritime practices. Every detail, from lashing techniques to bow shapes, is here restored with the precision proper to the scientific and ethnographic publications of the era.

This reproduction is aimed at lovers of historical engravings and travel narratives. It constitutes a strong decorative element, evoking the first explorations of the Pacific and the encounter between European sciences and island cultures. Its reading offers a fascinating dive into the diversity of traditional naval architectures of Oceania.