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New page: Jean-François de Galoup, Comte de La Pérouse, (1741-1788), French navigator, joined the navy as a teenager and had distinguished himself both as a commander in war and a navigator and oc...
Jean-François de Galoup, Comte de La Pérouse, (1741-1788), French navigator, joined the navy as a teenager and had distinguished himself both as a commander in war and a navigator and oceanographer in peace when chosen, in 1783, to follow up on the unfinished work of [[James Cook]] in the far north [[Pacific]].

With two ships, “''La Boussole''” and “''L’Astolabe''”, he sailed from [[Brest]] on 1st August 1785, making his way to the Sandwich Islands ([[Hawaii]]) via [[Cape Horn]] and [[Chile]]. Continuing to [[Alaska]] he began a southerly survey of the coast as far down as [[California]] where he made repairs at [[Monterey]] before crossing the [[Pacific]] to [[Macao]], then [[Manila]]. After another refit and provisioning he turned north to follow up on missionary descriptions of coastlines north of [[Korea]] and sent a progress report with an officer overland to [[Paris]] from [[Russia]]n Kamchatka.

He then sailed for [[New Holland]] ([[Australia]]), where he arrived at [[Botany Bay]], [[New South Wales]], Cook’s landing place 18 years before, coincidently on the day that Governor [[Arthur Phillip]] raised the British flag founding the colony of [[Sydney]] in [[Port Jackson]], a few miles up the coast. He stayed for six weeks, enjoyed good relations with the British, and sailed again on 10th March. He was never seen again.

In 1791 the French mounted a search under the command of [[Bruny d’Entrecasteaux]] , which was fruitless. In 1828, evidence of him came to light in the Santa Cruz Islands, north [[New Hebrides]]. The reports sent from Kamchatka were published in 1797 and proved important additions to European knowledge of areas that are exactly half way around the globe.

The site of La Pérouse’s camp on the north shore of Botany Bay is now La Perouse, a Sydney suburb. “L’Astrolabe” is a French Antarctic icebreaker, based in [[Hobart]], [[Tasmania]].

[[Category: Explorers]]

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