Background
He was born near Albi, France on August 22, 1741. Lapérouse was the name of a family property that he added to his name.
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The Journal of Jean-François de Galaup de la Pérouse 1785-1788, Vol. 1 (Hakluyt Society Second Series, No. 179)
(During the second half of the 18th century, Britain and F...)
During the second half of the 18th century, Britain and France despatched a number of major expeditions to the Pacific. The greatest contribution by far was that of James Cook, but the voyages of Bougainville, Surville and Marion du Fresne had each played an important part in Pacific exploration. After Cook's death, France, with the active support of Louis XVI, organized a large-scale expedition to the Pacific, planned to last four years, concentrating on areas of the Pacific left unexplored or inadequately explored by Cook. It was to be led by an experienced and highly-regarded naval officer, Galaup de La Perouse. All the major French scientific societies and savants of the times co-operated in drawing up the instructions and, overseas, such men as Joseph Banks willingly assisted. La Perouse sailed with two ships, the Boussole and the Astrolabe, in August 1785, making for Tenerife, Brazil and Chile. He went on to Easter Island, the Hawaiian group and the northwest coast of America, endeavouring to complete the work of James Cook. The French spent some time in California, the first foreign visitors to the new Spanish missions. They then crossed the Pacific to China, sailed north to the Philippines and Formosa, and to the unknown waters around Korea, Sakhalin and Kamchatka. Having received new instructions, La Perouse sailed south towards the Samoan group and to Botany Bay in New South Wales where he arrived on 26 January 1788, a few days after Captain Phillip and the First Fleet. He left on the 10 March on the first leg of the voyage. At this point, the expedition vanished. The disappearance of the two French frigates was a mystery that remained unsolved for almost 40 years. Meanwhile, an account of the expedition had been published, based on La Perouse's journal which had been sent back from various ports of call. It contained his comments on his discoveries and on the various settlements he visited, and a wealth of information on native people, their customs and language, and reports by the naturalists on board his ships. The first volume contains over 200 pages of editorial introduction and the annotated narrative of the first half of the voyage, from Brest to the Philippines.
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Jean-François de Galaup
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also known as
comte de Lapérouse ("de La Pérouse")
Education
He studied in a Jesuit college and entered the naval college in Brest when he was fifteen.
Career
He entered the French navy in 1756. Between 1778 and 1783, when France and England were at war, he served in North American waters, largely along the eastern coast of Canada, and was in command at the capture of Fort Prince of Wales and Fort York on Hudson Bay. In 1785 La Pérouse was sent by the French government to discover a northwest passage and to explore Pacific Ocean areas. Commanding the ships L'Astrolabe and La Boussole, La Pérouse reached Mount St. Elias on the coast of Alaska in 1786.
Crossing to Asiatic waters, the expedition discovered Sangar Strait and La Pérouse Strait between Sakhalin and Hokkaido, and visited the Sandwich, or Hawaiian Islands, Macao, and the Philippines. The interpreter, Lesseps, was sent home overland from eastern Siberia with the notes and maps recording the work of the expedition. A number of the crew of the Astrolabe were massacred at the Navigator Islands in 1787. In 1788 La Pérouse visited Botany Bay, New South Wales; this was the last seen of the expedition, until in 1826 Captain Peter Dillon found wreckage of La Pérouse's ships on Vanikoro Island, north of the New Hebrides. The work Voyage autour du monde, in four volumes, was published in 1797 from La Pérouse's notes preserved by Lesseps.
Achievements
Works
book
-
The Journal of Jean-François de Galaup de la Pérouse 1785-1788, Vol. 1 (Hakluyt Society Second Series, No. 179)
(During the second half of the 18th century, Britain and F...)
-
The Journal of Jean-François de Galaup de la Pérouse 1785-1788, Vol. 1 (Hakluyt Society Second Series, No. 179)
References
