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The Crozet Archipelago was discovered by Captain Marc Joseph Marion Dufresne
(bap. 22 May 1724 - 12 June 1772)
with the sighting of 2 of islands of the western group on 23 January 1772.
Marion was leading a voyage of discovery in company with second-in-command ; navigator, Julien Marie Crozet (1728 - 1782), in the 450 ton 16 gun flute Mascarin (formerly Grand Couvreur), accompanied by the 700 ton 16 gun storeship the Marquis de Castries (formerly the Bruny), under the command of the very young
Ambroise Bernard Marie Le Jar du Clesmeur (1751 - 1792). The expedition had sailed from Rivière Noire (Black River), on the west coast of Île de France (Mauritius), on 18 October 1771 bound for Tahiti via the southern ocean.
http://findingnz.co.nz/yh/dyh1_french_ch.htm
http://www.philateliedestaaf.fr/HTML/Timbres/loupe/loupe-PO/PO077.htm
http://cerchi.net/destinations/2002_sioe/sioe_crozet.html
