Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse

Lore & Background

Lapérouse enlisted in the French Royal Navy at age 15. He served in the Seven Years' War, was wounded at the Battle of Quiberon Bay in 1759, captured by the British, and later exchanged. During the Anglo-French War, he commanded the frigate Amazone, capturing HMS Ariel in 1779, and was promoted to captain in 1780. He later led a frigate division and captured two British trading posts on Hudson Bay in 1782, releasing prisoners in exchange for a promise to free French prisoners of war.

In 1785, Louis XVI appointed Lapérouse to lead a scientific expedition around the world. His ships, L'Astrolabe and La Boussole, carried ten scientists and aimed to complete the Pacific discoveries of James Cook, correct maps, establish trade, and assess British intentions at Botany Bay. The expedition stopped in Chile, Hawaii, Alaska, California, Macau, the Philippines, Korea, Russia, Japan, Samoa, Tonga, and Australia.

Lapérouse learned of the British First Fleet via dispatch while at Kamchatka and sailed rapidly to Botany Bay, arriving days after the fleet. Governor Arthur Phillip had already moved the colony to Port Jackson. Lapérouse's ships later wrecked on the reefs of Vanikoro in the Solomon Islands around 1788.

Reader's Guide

Lapérouse's expedition represented a major French effort in Pacific exploration, following the methods of James Cook. Though the voyage ended in tragedy, it contributed to scientific mapping and ethnological knowledge. The expedition's precise use of chronometers and lunar distances advanced the resolution of longitude. Lapérouse's encounter with the First Fleet at Botany Bay highlights the geopolitical rivalry between France and Britain in the Pacific. His disappearance and the eventual discovery of the wreck site at Vanikoro made him a figure of enduring historical and archaeological interest.

Did You Know?

• A 16-year-old Napoléon Bonaparte applied for the voyage but was not chosen.
• Lapérouse captured two British trading posts on Hudson Bay in 1782 and released the governor in exchange for a promise to free French prisoners.
• His ships wrecked on the reefs of Vanikoro in the Solomon Islands around 1788.
• He married Louise-Eléonore Broudou in 1783, eight years after meeting her on Île de France.