Joseph F.W. Desbarres, ca. 1785, attributed to James Peachey (active 1773-1797)

If Joseph Frederick Wallet Desbarres (1721-1824) had not existed, someone would have had to invent him. Through his efforts, and those of many other surveyors, the maps and charts by which Canadians were able to navigate the numerous waterways bisecting our country were created.

Born in Switzerland, Desbarres became a British army officer and engineer, serving under Wolfe at Louisbourg. He then became the surveyor and principal author of the Atlantic Neptune, the 1770s hydrographic survey of the Atlantic and St. Lawrence coasts which safely guided generations of mariners. He became a major Nova Scotia landowner, and the lieutenant-governor of Cape Breton, 1784-1787, and governor of Prince Edward Island, 1804-1812.

His personal life was equally complicated; he carried on relationships with two women simultaneously, one in Nova Scotia and one in Britain, and had 17 children by them. He is said to have danced on a tabletop on his 100th birthday.

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