The Lost Discipline of Nauscopy

Etienne Bottineau was born in France in 1738. An unremarkable boy who had a deep love for the sea. He enlisted at the age of 15, toured with the French Royal Navy and eventually found himself working for the French East India Company.

In 1764, he settled on Mauritius, then called Ile de France. During all of this time he didn’t stand out. As a lesser member of the French naval engineering corps he would have been just another face in the crowd.

1770 – Nauscopy is revealed to the world

Bottineau had begun to notice he could predict the arrival of ships days in advance. A unique and valuable skill in the days before radar or radio communications. From 1770 he felt confident enough to start making bets on when ships would arrive. He frequently won. Questioned about how he did it, he would give vague answers about atmospheric phenomena.

Over the course of a few years he perfected his technique, leading him to be called a phenomenon. The Governor, displeased by this nickname, sent him into exile in Madagascar. And that would have been it, a local footnote in Mauritius folklore.

For our story, we have to thank Viscount Francois de Souillac, the new Governor, who recalled him to Mauritius in the early 1780’s.

Working for the Navy

Bottineau, back in Mauritius and full of confidence, wrote to the Secretary of State for the Navy, offering his services. Local authorities are asked to verify his claims. Between May and December 1782, Bottineau’s predictions are compared against ship arrivals. In all this time, he predicts 109 vessels and is wrong on just two occasions.

As impressive as this is, one incident stands out. In August 1782, he correctly announces the arrival of a French naval fleet. Days later, he announces the coming of another large fleet. Panic sets in, it can only be the British naval fleet, whose assault on Mauritius has been feared for months.

Bottineau is unfazed and continues to study his atmospheric phenomena. Shortly after, he announces that the fleet has changed direction and is heading away from them. A reconnaissance ship is dispatched. Upon returning, the captain confirms that everything Bottineau stated was true.

So impressed by his skills, the Governor offers Bottineau 10,000 pounds plus a pension of 120 pounds a year if he will reveal his secret. Bottineau declines, believing his gift is worth more.

Travel to Paris and a fall from grace

February 1784, Bottineau embarks on his journey to Paris, hopeful he will find favour with Marshal de Castries, the Secretary of the Navy. He never gets to meet him. De Castries refuses to entertain him, seeing him as a crank. Still hopeful, Bottineau publishes a memoir in 1786 with the intention of drumming up interest in his skills.

The opposite happens. He is met with derision. His new discipline of nauscopy is ridiculed.

An extract from his memoir gives us an insight into his gift and how he came to hone it:

It appeared to me that a vessel approaching land must produce a certain effect upon the atmosphere, and cause the approach to be discovered by a practised eye even before the vessel itself was visible. After making many observations, I thought I could discover a particular appearance before the vessel came in sight: sometimes I was right, but more frequently wrong; so that at the time I gave up all hope of success.

In 1764, I was appointed to a situation in the Île de France: while there, having much leisure time, I again betook myself of my favorite observations….

The clear sky and pure atmosphere, at certain periods of the day, were favorable to my studies, and as fewer vessels came to the island, I was less liable to error than was the case off the coast of France, where vessels are continually passing…. I had not been six months upon the island when I became confident that my discovery was certain.

Memoir – Etienne Bottineau

The above extract also helps us to understand why he was derided in France. Busier ports and a less clear atmosphere made it harder for him to predict the coming of ships with accuracy. Leaving him unable to prove his worth.

Bottineau returns to Mauritius in 1793. His time in France left him annoyed, embarrassed and penniless. Consigned to a life on the side-lines of history, he dies there in 1813. The Wizard beacon keeper of the Isle of France no more. Nauscopy is practised by a few others but soon falls into historical oddity.

To this day, no-one is quite sure how he did it. How can you predict an arrival that is between 300 miles and 900 miles away with such accuracy? Not just that, but also stating whether there would be just a single ship or a group.

Parlour trick or genuine skill, the jury is still out over 200 years later.

Sources:

Etienne Bottineau (wikipedia.com)

The art of detecting ships at impossible distances (faena.com)

Naval gazing (smithsonianmag.com)

Header Image (pixabay.com)