Jean-François de Galaup La Perouse (1741-1788)
La Perouse was born in Albi, France. He entered the navy at 15 and when serving in the Formidable in the battle with Admiral Hawke off Belle-Isle in November 1759 was wounded and captured. Repatriated from England he was posted again to sea duties, where he perfected his techniques as a seaman and navigator and pursued his interest in oceanography. Promoted lieutenant in April 1775 and captain in 1780 after France joined the American war, he had opportunities to distinguish himself as a naval commander. His campaign against the British in Hudson Bay in August 1782 was a signal success, and he demonstrated his humanity by leaving with the remnants of the settlements enough arms and provisions to enable them to preserve themselves during the oncoming winter.
In 1783 the French government resolved to send an expedition to the Pacific to complete Captain James Cook's unfinished work, and in particular to explore the passages in the Bering Sea, which had been a mystery to Europeans since the sixteenth century. King Louis XVI himself took a hand in drafting the plan and itinerary, a copy of which is in the Municipal Library at Rouen, France, and when La Pérouse was selected to lead the fleet gave him an audience before he sailed. In command of two ships, La Boussole and L'Astrolabe (Commandant de Langle), he left Brest on 1 August 1785 making for Brazil. Doubling Cape Horn he refitted in Chile, then sailed to the Sandwich Islands and thence to Alaska, where he turned south exploring and surveying the coast as far as California. After a short refit at Monterey, he sailed across the Pacific, discovered uncharted islands, and visited Macao and Manila. After six weeks reprovisioning and refreshing he left on 10 April 1787 to survey the coasts and territories north of Korea, which had been described and commented on by Christian missionaries. He sailed up the Gulf of Tartary, naming several points on both its shores and learned that Sakhalin was an island. In September he put in to Kamchatka to replenish his supplies. From there he dispatched an officer, Lesseps, overland to Paris with accounts of his discoveries, while he turned south making for New Holland. In December, at Tutuila, Samoa, which Bougainville had called the Navigator Islands when he explored them in 1768, natives suddenly attacked a party from L'Astrolabe seeking water and killed de Langle and eleven others. La Pérouse left without taking reprisals and sailed through the Pacific Islands to Norfolk Island and to Botany Bay. He was sighted off the coast there on 24 January 1788 but bad weather prevented his entering the bay for two days. By then Governor Arthur Phillip had sailed to Port Jackson, but John Hunter had remained with the Sirius and the transports, and assisted La Pérouse to anchor. He established a camp on the northern shore, now called after him, and maintained good relations with the English during his six-week stay. He sailed on 10 March and was not heard of again. His disappearance led the French government in 1791 to equip another expedition under Bruny d'Entrecasteaux to look for him, but the search was fruitless.
As Franco-British relations deteriorated during the revolution unfounded rumours spread in France blaming the British for the tragedy which had occurred in the vicinity of the new colony. It was not until 1828 that the mystery was solved, when Dumont d'Urville ascertained that the La Pérouse expedition was wrecked at Vanikoro, Santa Cruz, north of the New Hebrides. In the meantime the revolutionary government had published the records of the voyage as far as Kamchatka: Voyage De La Pérouse Autour du Monde, 1-4 (Paris, 1797). These volumes are still mines of cartographic and scientific information about the Pacific. Three English translations were published during 1798-99. An anonymous pamphlet Fragmens du Dernier Voyage de la Pérouse (Quimper, 1797), may have been the work of Pére Receveur, a scientist on the expedition who died at Botany Bay on 17 February 1788.
On 17 June 1783 La Pérouse had married Louise-Eléonore Brander of Nantes. They had no children but since his name was taken in 1815 by the husbands of his two sisters, Dalmas and Barthez, it still survives in France.
Jean Francois La Perouse (1)
1798 Laperouse & Mourelle Antique Early Map of Queensland, PNG, Fiji etc in 1781
- Title : Carte D Une Partie Du Grand Ocean a l E. et S.E. de la Nouvelle Guinee pour l intelligence du Voyage de la Fregate Espagnole la Princesa commandee par D. Franco. Antonio Maurelle. en 1781..... Published as the (act) directs Novr. 1st 1798, by G.G. & J. Robinson
- Ref #: 31555
- Size: 16 3/4in x 11in (425mm x 280mm)
- Date : 1798
- Condition: (A+) Fine Condition
Description:
This large original copper plate engraved antique early map of Queensland, New Guinea, Fiji, French Polynesia & other South Pacific Islands - tracking the voyages of Francisco Antonio Mourelle in the region in 1781 was engraved in 1798 - dated - and was published in the 1st English edition of the Atlas du voyage de La Perouse G.G & J. Robinson, London in 1799.
La Perouse set sail from France in 1785 to continue the discoveries of Captain Cook. He was shipwrecked in 1788 but his narrative, maps, and views survived and were first published in 1797.
Interesting chart of Eastern Australia and part of the south-western Pacific, showing the routes taken by the Spanish explorer Don Francisco Antonio Maurelle in 1781 along the northern coast of New Guinea and across the Pacific to Fiji and Tonga, including a maunscript grid added in a contemporary hand.
Maurelle was credited with the discovery of the Hermit Islands on this voyage. The map includes the north-eastern coast of Australia, and parts of the coast of New Guinea. The map shows the 1781 route of his ship The Princesa through the Bismarck Archipelago north of New Guinea, through the Archipel de Salomos [i.e. Solomon Islands] and then east across the Pacific to the Iles de Amis [i.e. the Friendly Islands, now Tonga] where he discovered I. Vavao [ i.e. Vavau] with one of the best anchorages in the South Pacific.
The map includes the Iles de Navigateurs [i.e. Samoa], I. Fidji [i.e. Fiji], Iles de Esprit [i.e. Vanuatu or the New Hebrides Isles], and Nouvelle Caledonie [i.e. New Caledonia]. Many small islands are depicted with notes regarding their sightings by Abel Tasman, William Bligh and Maurelle.
A note on the chart states that the publisher has placed the islands according to the longitude of other navigators, rather than on Maurelles figures which were considered estimates only, and also, that Maurelles chart was based on a French chart by Jacques Nicolas Bellin published in 1742.
General Definitions:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color : - off white
Age of map color: - Early
Colors used: - Yellow
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 16 3/4in x 11in (425mm x 280mm)
Plate size: - 16in x 10in (405mm x 255mm)
Margins: - Min 1/2in (12mm)
Imperfections:
Margins: - Light age toning in margins
Plate area: - None
Verso: - None
Background:
Mourelle de la Rúa, Francisco Antonio 1750 – 1820
Mourelle was a Galician naval officer and explorer serving the Spanish crown. He was born in 1750 at San Adrián de Corme (Corme Aldea, Ponteceso), near La Coruña, Galicia
1775 voyage Mourelle served the Spanish navy in the Guyanas, Trinidad, and the Antilles before becoming stationed at New Spain\'s Pacific Ocean naval base at San Blas, Mexico in 1774. He joined the 1775 expedition of Bruno de Heceta and Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, serving as Quadra\'s pilot on the schooner Sonora. On July 29, at around 49 degrees north latitude, the Sonora became separated from Heceta\'s ship Santiago. Heceta soon returned south while Quadra and Mourelle continued north, eventually reaching 58 degrees 30 minutes north latitude. They found and anchored in Bucareli Bay. Then they sailed south, arriving at Monterey, California, on October 7, and San Blas on November 20, 1775.
Mourelle\'s journal was somehow taken clandestinely to London where it was translated and published. Captain James Cook made use of the information in Mourelle\'s journal during his travels in the Pacific Northwest.
1779 voyage Mourelle again served as the pilot of Quadra, and second in command of the ship Favorita, during the 1779 expedition commanded by Ignacio de Arteaga. Leaving San Blas on February 11, 1779, the expedition reached 61 degrees north and Hinchinbrook Island at the head of the Gulf of Alaska. From there they sailed southwest along the Kenai Peninsula. The ships returned to San Blas on November 21, 1779.
Later career During his service at San Blas, Mourelle traveled extensively throughout the Pacific Ocean. From 1781 on the La Princessa, he attempted to find a southern route from the Philippines to Mexico, mapping 29 of the 50 islands in the Hermit Islands, Ninigo Islands and Tench Island in New Guinea, and Ontong Java in the Solomon Islands . He visited Tonga and travelled through the Ellice Islands (now Tuvalu). Keith S. Chambers and Doug Munro (1980) identify Niutao as the island that Mourelle named on May 5, 1781, thus solving what Europeans had called The Mystery of Gran Cocal. Due to contrary winds, he returned via Guam and took the northern route across the Pacific to Mexico. He was also familiar with the Philippines and Canton, China.
Mourelle was to command the Mexicana for a 1792 voyage to explore the Strait of Georgia but Alessandro Malaspina had one of his own officers, Cayetano Valdés, placed in command of the Mexicana. Dionisio Alcalá Galiano commanded the Sutil, the twin companion of the Mexicana.
Mourelle was transferred to Spain in 1793. He was promoted to frigate captain in the same year as the Action of 19 January 1799 where he took a leading role. He became ship\'s captain in 1806, and commodore in 1811. He commanded a squadron in 1818 that was to put down a rebellion in the Rio de la Plata, but the endeavor never got underway. Mourelle died on May 24, 1820, at the age of 64.
