Lapérouse (1785-1788)

Galaup, Jean-François de, comte de Lapérouse (1741-1788). Voyage de La Pérouse autour du monde [...]. Paris: Imprimerie de la République, 1797.

Born into a family belonging to the old French nobility, Jean-François Galaup, Comte de Lapérouse, was the epitome of an eighteenth-century sailor: a skilful combatant, an excellent navigator, a curious mind open to all the sciences of his time, and a strong but considerate leader of men.

Born in 1741, Lapérouse joined the French navy at 15. From 1756 to 1785 he participated in many naval campaigns in Europe, North America, the West Indies and the Indian Ocean. In 1782, during one of these campaigns, he destroyed the Prince of Wales and York forts on Hudson Bay, which made him one of the heroes of the American War of Independence.

Promoted to squadron leader in 1785, Lapérouse was chosen to lead a voyage of discovery to the Pacific where several regions remained little known, including the west coast of North America. After preparing itself with the help of the Academy of Sciences, the expedition set out from Brest in August 1785, sailed round Cape Horn and arrived in sight of Mount Saint Elias, on the border between Alaska and Canada, in June 1786. Lapérouse then made some hydrographic surveys along the west coast of North America down to Monterey, California, where he arrived in September. From there he crossed the Pacific to China, becoming the first European navigator to enter the waters between China and Japan. After discovering the strait that today bears his name, between Hokkaido (Japan) and Sakhalin (Siberia), Lapérouse sailed to Australia, from where he left again in March 1788. Caught shortly afterwards in a cyclone, the expedition perished with all hands at Vanikoro in Polynesia. The debris of the first of the two frigates of the expedition was not found until 1828, and the debris of the second, not until 1964.