Luc-Marie Bayle

During the three months of travel Bayle not only learned how to film, he also composed a tapestry commemorating the arrival of Jules Dumont d'Urville to the territory in 1840.

In addition to writing a diary covering the first two Adélie Land expeditions, Bayle wrote Le Voyage de la Nouvelle Incomprise recounting the same events.

Luc-Marie Bayle (30 January 1914, Malo-les-Bains – 11 October 2000, Paris) was a French naval officer, painter, and artist.

Bayle began his military career in 1932 when he entered the École Navale.

After promotion he sailed on various ships and conducted campaigns to China and Africa.

Bayle was appointed Peintre de la Marine in 1944.

After the war ended he received an order for a tapestry for the officers of the Rue Royale.

Due to his lack of funds, the Naval police provided him with a bundle of material and a team of seamstresses to perform the work.

He was particularly interested in historic ships such as the Großherzogin Elisabeth, a three-masted war-damaged ship which was brought back to Brest in 1946 and renamed the Duchesse Anne.

After serving in the Navy the ship sank into neglect.

After attending further marine school training in Lorient, Bayle completed two missions, one in 1948 the other in 1949, to Adélie Land on the Commandant Charcot for which he became the on-board photographer, historian, and official painter.

In the 1948 mission to Adélie Land, Commander Max Jacques Henri Douguet accepted Bayle on board with the prevision that he learn how to use a film camera.

Bayle directed and edited a 25 minute film depicting the 1948 and 1949 Adélie Land missions.

The film is held at ECPAD.

In 1954 Bayle created a large model aircraft carrier on the Seine in order to demonstrate the complexity of the equipment and electronics involved.

He commanded the French Navy in Polynesia from 1956 to 1958.

From 1960 to 1972, with Hervé Baille Bayle, he created a publishing company (B & B).

He was the director of the Musée national de la Marine in Paris from 1972 to 1980 and created the concept of a "port-museum", especially in Port-Louis, near Lorient.

In 1975 he was elected to the Académie de Marine.

Bayle founded the French maritime heritage preservation association "AMERAMI" in 1975.

Bayle drew and painted, mostly in watercolors, beginning with his first expedition to China where he developed his talent in this discipline.

Other locations included in this collection are Tahiti, Moorea, Bora Bora and Mangareva, as well as the less frequented Île Saint-Paul, Macquarie Island, Kerguelen Islands, and the Balleny Islands.

His works are complemented by rag sewn tapestries, posters, and advertisements.

He also illustrated many books.

After an initial restoration project funded by the Port-Louis museum, Bayle launched a new call for the rescue of the Duchess Anne in February 1979, deeming her condition to be critical.

It was ultimately Dunkirk that restored the ship in 1980/81, where it remains on display.

After designing the logo for the legendary ship Calypso, he conceived and designed the crystal sword used for Jacques Cousteau's official Académie française reception in 1989.

On 1 January 2003, the Universal Postal Union issued a stamp in his honour.