Gaston de ROCQUEMAUREL. L.A. (draft), Macao 25 October 1851, his friend Marenge; 2 pages large in-8 (one edge gnawed with loss of qqs words). China. [Formerly Dumont d'Urville's first mate on the Astrolabe during the expedition to the South Pole and Oceania, Rocquemaurel made a circumnavigation voyage on the Capricieuse between 1850 and 1854]. He announced that the corvette had left Shanghai against the advice of the consul and the bishops. The crew had lost 5 men, including a midshipman, because of "the insalubrity of the rivers"; he asked his friend to send two letters to the family of the deceased. He adds that the Cassini, who has just arrived, "is in better health". Finally, he deplores the attitude of the consul and of certain bishops "who [could] compromise all our relations [with] China, to the great satisfaction [of] our rivals.