Duperrey joined the navy in 1802, and served as marine hydrologist to Louis Claude de Saulces de Freycinet aboard the Uranie (1817–1820). He commanded La Coquille on its circumnavigation of the earth (1822–1825) with Jules Dumont d'Urville as second. He is the first to put together on a map the whole Gilbert Islands archipelago (with the name given to it by Admiral Krusenstern).