Chef d'escadre Jean François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse (; 23 August 1741 – ) was a French Navy officer and explorer. Having enlisted in the Navy at the age of 15, he had a successful career and in 1785 was appointed to lead a scientific expedition around the world. His ships stopped in Chile, Hawaii, Alaska, California, Macau, the Philippines, Korea, Russia, Japan, Samoa, Tonga, and Australia before wrecking on the reefs of Vanikoro in the Solomon Islands.

Early career

Jean-François de Galaup was born on 23 August 1741 near Albi, France. His family had been ennobled in 1558.Dunmore, pp. 3-4

Lapérouse studied in a Jesuit college and joined the French Royal Navy as a Garde-Marine in Brest on 19 November 1756. In 1757 he was appointed to the French ship Célèbre and participated in a supply expedition to the fort of Louisbourg in New France. Lapérouse also took part in a second supply expedition in 1758 to Louisbourg, but as it was in the early years of the Seven Years' War the fort was under siege and the expedition was forced to make a circuitous route around Newfoundland to avoid British patrols.

In 1759 Lapérouse was wounded in the Battle of Quiberon Bay, where he was serving aboard . He was captured by the British and briefly imprisoned before being paroled back to France; he was formally exchanged in December 1760.Dunmore, John. Where fate beckons: the life of Jean-François de la Pérouse. pp. 26–32 He participated in a 1762 attempt by the French to gain control of Newfoundland, escaping with the fleet when the British arrived in force to drive them out.

At the outbreak of the Anglo-French War in 1778, Lapérouse was given command of the 32-gun frigate . On 7 October 1779, he captured the 20-gun . Lapérouse was promoted to captain on 4 April 1780, and was part of the Expédition Particulière under Admiral Ternay, departing Brest on 2 May 1780. From October to November 1780, Amazone sailed from Rhode Island to Lorient, and from there to the Caribbean Sea.

Lapérouse then transferred to . In mid 1781, he was offered command of the 50-gun , but as his crew was sick with scurvy, he requested permission to keep command of Astrée, and was appointed to lead a frigate division, along with , under Latouche-Tréville.

Lapérouse escorted a convoy to the West Indies in December 1781, participated in the attack on St. Kitts in February 1782 and then fought in the defeat at the Battle of the Saintes against the squadron of Admiral Rodney. In August 1782, he captured two British trading posts (the Prince of Wales Fort and York Fort) on the coast of Hudson Bay, but allowed his prisoners, including Governor Samuel Hearne of Prince of Wales Fort, to sail off to England in exchange for a promise to release French prisoners of war held in Britain. The next year, his family finally consented to his marriage to Louise-Eléonore Broudou, a young creole of modest origins whom he had met on Île de FranceNovaresio, 1996. p. 181 "married a young Creole girl ... met ... at Mauritius" eight years earlier.

Scientific expedition around the world

Objectives

Lapérouse was appointed in 1785 by Louis XVI and by the Secretary of State of the Navy, the Marquis de Castries, to lead an expedition around the world. Many countries were initiating voyages of scientific explorations at that time.

The expedition's aims were to complete the Pacific discoveries of James Cook (whom Lapérouse greatly admired), and like Cook with botanist Joseph Banks, his over aim was to enrich French science and scientific collections. However the French governments main aim was to correct and complete Cook's maps of the area, establish trade contacts, open new maritime routes and discover whether or not the British intention to establish a colony at Botany Bay was a genuine form of settlement, or intended to create a British Admiralty Pacific Fleet and so squeeze the French and Spanish out of extensive areas of the Pacific not yet explored.

Background and planning However the scientific aspects of these voyages were often added to camouflage the political and commercial motivations, especially following the French defeat by the British following the Seven Years' War and France's loss of influence in the American Revolutionary states and Canada. Initially Louis Antoine de Bougainville (1764) had been sent out by the French to colonise the Falkland Islands and also in 1766 to explore the Pacific seeking commercial and colonial potential.

Louis XVI and his court had been stimulated by a proposal from the Dutch-born merchant adventurer William Bolts, who had earlier tried unsuccessfully to interest Louis's brother-in-law, the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II (brother of Queen Marie Antoinette), in a similar voyage. The French court adopted the concept (though not its author, Bolts), leading to the dispatch of the Lapérouse expedition. Charles Pierre Claret de Fleurieu, Director of Ports and Arsenals, stated in the draft memorandum on the expedition that he submitted to the Louis XVI: "the utility which may result from a voyage of discovery ... has made me receptive to the views put to me by Mr. Bolts relative to this enterprise". But Fleurieu explained to the King: "I am not proposing at all, however, the plan for this voyage as it was conceived by Mr. Bolts".Robert J. King, William Bolts and the Austrian Origins of the Lapérouse Expedition, Terrae Incognitae, The Journal for the History of Discoveries, vol.40, 2008, pp. 1–28.

Preparation and organization

Ships and scope of the expedition His ships were L'Astrolabe (under Fleuriot de Langle) and La Boussole,Novaresio, 1996. p. 181 "Lapérouse ships, Astrolabe and Boussole" both 500 tons. They were storeships reclassified as frigates for the occasion. Their overt objectives were geographic, scientific, ethnological, economic (looking for opportunities for whaling or fur trading), and political (the eventual establishment of French bases or colonial cooperation with their Spanish allies in the Philippines). They were to explore both the north and south Pacific, including the coasts of the Far East and of Australia, and send back reports through existing European outposts in the Pacific.

Crew

Lapérouse was well liked by his men. Among his crew there were ten scientists: Joseph Lepaute Dagelet (1751–1788), an astronomer and mathematician; Robert de Lamanon, a geologist; La Martinière, a botanist; a physicist; three naturalists; and three illustrators, Gaspard Duché de Vancy and an uncle and nephew named Prévost.Novaresio, 1996. p. 184 "the mathematician and astronomer Dagelet, the botanist La Martiniére and the geologist Lamanon. Then there were the geographers, the physicists, the physicians, and the illustrators like Duché de Vancy and the two Prévosts (uncle and nephew)." Another of the scientists was Jean-André Mongez. Even both chaplains were scientifically schooled.

One of the young men who applied for the voyage was a 16-year-old Corsican named Napoléon Bonaparte.Robert W. Kirk, "Paradise Past: The Transformation of the South Pacific, 1520–1929", McFarland & Company, Inc., 2012, p.206. Bonaparte, a second lieutenant from Paris' military academy at the time, made the preliminary list but he was ultimately not chosen for the voyage list and remained behind in France. At the time, Bonaparte was interested in serving in the navy rather than army because of his proficiency in mathematics and artillery, both valued skills on warships.

Copying the work methods of Cook's scientists, the scientists on this voyage would base their calculations of longitude on precision chronometers and the distance between the Moon and the Sun followed by theodolite triangulations or bearings taken from the ship,De Langle's means of taking bearings was exactly that used by Cook. the same as those taken by Cook to produce his maps of the Pacific islands. As regards geography, Lapérouse decisively showed the rigour and safety of the methods proven by Cook. From his voyage, the resolution of the problem of longitude was evident and mapping attained a scientific precision. Impeded (as Cook had been) by the continual mists enveloping the northwestern coast of America, he did not succeed any better in producing complete maps, though he managed to fill in some of the gaps.

British rivalry and Botany Bay This was a period of extensive espionage conducted between Britain and France, seeking maritime commercial and naval dominance. A French spy in London discovered that a First Fleet of 11 ships including convict transporters and store ships was being sent out to Botany Bay. There is no suggestion in Arthur Phillip's nor James Cook's nor Banks' journals and actions that Port Jackson was or could be the preferred site for the new colony. Phillip was dissatisfied with the poor water supply at Botany Bay. Aware of Cook's reports of potential harbours just north of Botany Bay at Port Jackson and Broken Bay, Phillip conducted an exploratory trip to visit both ports while the First Fleet made early preparations to settle in Botany Bay. He cut short his exploration upon discovering one of the finest harbours in the world and had already prepared to move the fleet to Port Jackson when sails were seen approaching Botany Bay. Greetings and hurried departure (indeed scramble in adverse weather) to Port Jackson ensued. The Lapérouse expedition rested and carried out repairs in Botany Bay.

Lapérouse had learned of the First Fleet by dispatch sent over the Great Siberian Trek. At this time he was refurbishing his small fleet at Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia's Far East. The dispatch however sent Laperouse rapidly south to check out the importance of this colonial site, and he arrived within days of the First Fleet. Governor Arthur Phillip had already decamped from Botany Bay and was in process of leaving for Port Jackson only a few miles to the north.

Voyage itinerary

Chile and Hawaii

Lapérouse and his 220 men left Brest on 1 August 1785,Novaresio, 1996. p. 181 "The expedition ... left the port of Brest on the 1st of August, 1785" rounded Cape Horn, and investigated the Spanish colonial government in the Captaincy General of Chile.Novaresio, 1996. p. 186 "stopping on the coast of Chile" He arrived on 9 April 1786 at Easter Island.Jean-François de Galaup, count de Lapérouse He then sailed to the Sandwich Islands, the present-day Hawaiian Islands,Novaresio, 1996. p. 186 "Lapérouse headed for Easter Island ... left the island two days after his arrival ... after a brief stop in the Hawaiian Islands" where he and his crew became the first Europeans to set foot on the island of Maui. James Cook had charted the island in 1778 and traded with the natives on Cook's ships.Thomas, Nicholas (2003). Cook: The Extraordinary Voyages of Captain James Cook. Walker & Co. ISBN 0802777112. Retrieved 3 June 2025. UK edition is titled Discoveries: The Voyages of Captain Cook.

Alaska

Lapérouse sailed on to Alaska, where he landed near Mount Saint Elias in late June 1786Novaresio, 1996. p. 186 "Towards mid-June ... the coast of Alaska, dominated by ... Mount Saint Elias" and explored the environs. On 13 July 1786 a barge and two longboats, carrying 21 men, were lost in the heavy currents of the bay called Port des Français by Lapérouse, but now known as Lituya Bay.Novaresio, 1996. pp. 186–187 "entered a deep inlet that was baptised French Port (now Lituya Bay) ... On the 13th of July, 1786 .. Only one of the three boats that landed returned ...engulfed by a particularly violent ebb tide. ... Around twenty men perished" The men visited the Tlingit people. This encounter was dramatized briefly in episode 13 of Carl Sagan's Cosmos: A Personal Voyage. Next, he headed south, exploring the northwest coast, including the outer islands of present-day British Columbia.

California