The author was serving as a lieutenant on board the `Pontchartrain`, a 56-gun vessel of the Compagnie Royale des Indes Orientales, bound from Lorient to Surat in Bombay, and on board the `Aurore` on his return to France. He kept the journal for the entertainment of an unnamed French lady, and although he recorded the distances covered, wind directions, etc., most of the journal concerns life on board, with lively descriptions of the passengers and of local customs in Africa and especially in India. There are also comments on political events, particularly with reference to the Dutch, French and British trading companies in the Far East.

The voyage to Bombay lasted from April to September 1698, with a brief halt at Anjouan. The journal ends here and is recommenced in February 1700 at the beginning of the return voyage. The period in between had been taken up by two voyages to Bandar `Abbas in the Persian Gulf, which is described briefly (folio 75). The journal ends with the return to France in July 1700.

There are a few illustrations in water-colours.