Laperouse
Eighteenth Century French Sailor and leader of a Voyage into the Pacific
I have written a short biography of Laperouse. It is available in two parts:
Part 1: Before the Pacific Voyage
Part 2: The Pacific Voyage
30 July 2001 - This biography is still being added to and reworked. Errors and typing mistakes
will be corrected as soon as possible. It will slowly take shape. Please be patient. This text is
intended to support a proposed atlas of maps depicting Laperouse's life. It has, therefore, a
geographical bias. I do not intend this to be an analytical or critical evaluation of Laperouse's
life. French words are missing their accents for the moment. Also, I realise I have not been
consistent with using French terms and names or their English equivalents. These points will be
tidied up.
This page created 20 March 2001. Last updated 30 July 2001.
Part 1: Before the Pacific Voyage
Other Laperouse information:
Select Laperouse Bibliography
Links to other Laperouse sites
Proposed Laperouse book
Fig : Laperouse's ships and crews on the round the world voyage
Boussole Astrolabe
Ship type Storeship Storeship
Length metres metres
Width metres metres
Weight 500 tons 500 tons
Jean-Francois de Galaup de
Expedition leader
Laperouse
Jean-Francois de Galaup de
Captain P A Fleuriot de Langle
Laperouse
First Lieutenant De Clonard De Monti
Other Officers / Ensigns
Engineer / Cartographer Monneron
Captain of Artillery
Naturalist / Doctor La Martiniere
Astronomer J Lepaute d'Agelet Louis Monge
Writer / Historian
Surgeon Rollin Lavaux
Passenger
Master
Persons on board 114
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Select Laperouse Bibliography
Biographies and accounts of the voyage.
o Azemar, Raymond d'. Laperouse et sa famille en Rouergue et en Albigeois. Albi:
Atelier graphique Saint-Jean, 1992.
o Bellec, Francois. La Genereuse et tragique expedition Laperouse. Rennes: Ouest
France, 1985. 2858828377.
o Bicentenaire du Voyage de Laperouse: Actes du Colloque d"Albi, Mars
1985. Albi: Association Laperouse, 1988. 2950264301.
o Dunmore, John. French explorers in the Pacific. Volume 1: The Eighteenth
Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1965.
o Dunmore, John. La Perouse: explorateur du Pacifique, traduit par l'auteur avec la
collaboration de Michel-Claude Touchard. Paris: Payot, 1986. 2228140600.
o Dunmore, John. Pacific explorer: the Life of Jean-Francois de La
Perouse. Palmerston North, New Zealand: Dunmore Press, 1985. 0864690487.
o Gaziello, Catherine. L'Epedition de Laperouse, 1785-1788: replique francaise
aux voyages de Cook. Paris: C.T.H.S., 1984.
o Gonthier, Pascal. Laperouse: un destin egare. Noumea: Editions Grain de Sable,
1996. 2841700216.
o Jacob, Yves. L"enigme Laperouse. Paris: Tallandier, 2000. 2235022723.
o La Perouse, Jean-Francois de Galaup de. The Journal of Jean-Francois de la
Perouse 1785-1788. 2 vol. Translated and edited by John Dunmore. London:
Hakluyt Society, 1994. 0904180387.
o La Perouse, Jean-Francois de Galaup de. Le Voyage de Laperouse: 1785-
1788, recits et documents originaux presentes par John Dunmore, Maurice de
Brossard. 2 vol. Paris: Impr. nationale, 1985.
o La Perouse, Jean-Francois de Galaup de. Voyage round the world, performed in
the years 1785, 1786, 1787, and 1788. Published by order of the National
Assembly, under the superintendence of L.A. Milet-Mureau.Translated by A.
Hamilton. 3 vol. Facsimile Edition. Bibliotheca Australiana #27,28,29.
Amsterdam: N. Israel, 1968.
o La Perouse, Jean-Francois de Galaup de. Voyages and adventures of La
Perouse, translated from the French by Julius S. Gassner. Honolulu: Friends of the
Library of Hawaii, 1969.
o Taillemite, Étienne. Sur des mers inconnues. Bougainville, Cook,
Laperouse. Paris: Decouvertes Gallimard, 1997. 2070530388.
o
The search for Laperouse.
o Davidson, J.V. Peter Dillon of Vanikoro: Chevalier of the South Seas. Edited by
O.H.K. Spate. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1975. 0195504577.
o Dumont d'Urville, Jules S-C. An Account in two volumes of Two Voyages to the
South Seas. Translated and edited by Helen Rosenman. Melbourne: Melbourne
University Press, 1987. 0522843387.
o Horner, Frank. Looking for La Perouse: D'Entrecasteaux in Australia and the
South Pacific 1792-1793. Melbourne: Miegunyah Press, 1995. 0522844510.
Links to other Laperouse sites
Laperouse (in French, from Patrick Michel
La Perouse, Jean Francois Galaup, Comte de (in German)
Jean-Francois de Galaup, Comte de La Perouse from Discoverers Web
Jean-Francois de Galaup de Laperouse Information about Laperouse and about Le Musee
Laperouse in his birthplace, Albi (pages in French and English)
"Laperouse", by Ernest Scott. the full text.
Proposed Laperouse book
I am preparing material for an atlas about Laperouse showimg all the aspects of his life. It will
take the form of a series of approximately 64 newly prepared maps. The provisional list of maps
will be:
A. Early life.
L01 Early 1700s a Southwest France
b France
L02 1741-1756 a Childhood in Albi
b Albi
L03 1756 a To Brest
b Brest
L04 1756-1758 a Brittany
b Rade de Brest
c Rochefort
L05 1757-1758 a To Canada
b Ile Royale and Newfoundland
c Ile Royale
L06 1759 a Quiberon Bay
L07 1760-1763 a Bay of Biscay
b Brest to Lorient
c La Coruna
L08 1762 a To Newfoundland
b Avalon Peninsula
c St. John's
L09 1763-1766 a To the Mediterranean
b Toulon
c Bayonne
L10 1767-1770 a Brest and Albi
b Brest and Ushant
L11 1771 a To the West Indies
b Santo Domingo
c Cap Francais and Port au Prince
B. Ile de France.
L12 1772 a To Ile de France
b Goree
c Cape of Good Hope
L13 1772-1773 a Ile de France
b Ile Bourbon
c Madagascar
c Baie d'Antongil
L14 1773-1774 a Seychelles
b To India
c Mahe
L15 1773-1774 a Eastern India and Bay of Bengal
b Chandernagore
c Pondicherry
L16 1773-1774 a Western India
b Cochin to Goa
c Back to Ile de France
L17 1772-1776 a Ile de France
b Port Louis to Curepipe
L18 1776-1777 a Back to France
b To Madagascar
L19 1777-1778 a Back in France
b Lorient and Port Louis
c Paris and Versailles
C. North America.
L20 1778-1779 a North Sea and Channel
b To West Indies
L21 1779 a West Indies
b Martinique
c Grenada
L22 1779-1780 a Charleston
b Santo Domingo
c Across the Atlantic
d Lorient to Paris
L23 1780-1781 a North Atlantic crossings
b Rhode Island
c Massachusetts
L24 1781 a Boston
b To Nova Scotia
c Martha's Vineyard
L25 1781-1782 a West Indies
b Guadaloupe and Martinique
L26 1782 a Iles des Saintes
b Puerto Rico and Santo Domingo
L27 1782 a Hudson Bay
b Santo Domingo to Cadiz
L28 1783 a Back to France and Albi
b Paris
c Albi
L29 1784-1785 a Paris and Brest
b Versailles
D. The Voyage. Part 1. France to California
L30 1785 August-November a The Atlantic
b Madeira
c Canary Islands
d Ihla da Trindade
1785 November-1786
L31 a South Atlantic Ocean
February
b Santa Catarina
c Strait of Le Maire
L32 1786 February-April a South Pacific Ocean
b Chile
c Concepcion
L33 1786 March-May a Concepcion to Maui
b Easter Island
L34 1786 May-June a Hawaiian Islands
b Maui
c La Perouse Bay
L35 1786 June-July a North to Alaska
b Yakutat Bay
L36 1786 June-September a Mount St. Elias to Queen Charlotte Islands
b Queen Charlotte Islands to Oregon
L37 1786 July-August a Lituya Bay to Sitka Island
b Palma Bay
L38 1786 July a Lituya Bay
L39 1786 August a Sitka Island to Hazy Islands
b Hazy Islands to Forrester Island
L40 1786 August a Forrester Island to Moresby Island
b Moresby Island to Cape Hector
L41 1786 August-September a Cape Hector to Vancouver Island
b Vancouver Island to Oregon
L42 1786 September a Monterey
b Oregon to Monterey
E. The Voyage. Part 2. California to Kamchatka
L43 1786 September-1787 January a Across the Pacific
b Necker Island
c French Frigate Shoals
d Necker and French Frigate Shoals
L44 1786 December-1787 January a Asuncion to Macao
b Northern Mariana Islands
c Macao and Hong Kong
L45 1787 January-May a Macao to Taiwan
b Manila Bay
c Luzon Island
L46 1787 April-May a Taiwan (Formosa)
b Pescadores Islands
c Lan Hsu
L47 1787 May a Taiwan to Korea
b Yonaguni (Kumi)
c Houpinsu
L48 1787 May-June a Korea to Tartary coast
b Korea Strait
c Ullung do (Dagelet)
L49 1787 June a Tartary coast
b Terney
c Baie de Suffren
L50 1787 July a Gulf of Tartary
b Baie de Langle
L51 1787 July a Sakhalin coast
b Baie d'Estaing
c Salmon Torrent
L52 1787 July-August a Baie de Catries
b Baie de Jonquiere
c Sakhalin
L53 1787 a Kuril Islands
b La Perouse Strait
c Proliv Boussol'
F. The Voyage. Part 3. Kamchatka to Vanikoro
L54 1787 September-December a Kamchatka
b Avacha Bay
c South to Samoa
L55 1787 December a Tutuila
b Manua Islands
L56 1787 December a Massacre Bay
b Baie des Assassins
c Samoan Islands
L57 1787 Dec-1788 January a Tonga
b Vava'u Group
c Tongatapu Group
L58 1787 Dec-1788 January a Samoa to Botany Bay
b Niutoputapu Group
c Norfolk Island
L59 1788 January-March a Botany Bay
b La Perouse
c Laperouse Museum
L60 1788-? a After Botany Bay ?
b Nomuka
L61 1788-? a On to Vanikoro
b Nouvelle Caledonie?
c Santa Cruz Islands
L62 1788-1830 a Vanikoro
b Manevai Bay
c Astrolabe Reef
L63 1785-1788 a Summary of the Voyage
L64 2001 a Moon
b New Zealand
c Tasmania
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