Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse

Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse
23 August 1741 – ?1788
Place of birth	near Albi, France
Place of death	Unconfirmed Vanikoro, (Australasia)
Allegiance	Kingdom of France
Service/branch	French Navy (La Royale)
Years of service	1756 - 1788
Rank	Commodore Chef d'escadre contemporary equivalency Rear Admiral or Counter Admiral
Commands held	Amazone, Astrée, Boussole
Battles/wars	Seven Years' War Battle of Quiberon Bay American Revolutionary War Naval battle of Louisbourg
Awards	Chevalier de Saint-Louis

Jean François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse (23 August 1741–1788?) was a French Navy officer and explorer whose expedition vanished in Oceania.^[1]

Early career

Lapérouse victoriously led the frigate Astree in the Naval battle of Louisbourg, 21 July 1781, by Auguste-Louis de Rossel de Cercy.

Jean-François de Galaup was born near Albi, France.^[2] Lapérouse was the name of a family property that he added to his name. He studied in a Jesuit college and entered the naval college in Brest when he was fifteen. In 1757 he was posted to the Célèbre and participated in a supply expedition to Louisbourg in New France. He was in a second supply expedition in 1758 to that besieged fortress that was forced to make a circuitous route around Newfoundland to avoid British patrols. In 1759 he was wounded in the Battle of Quiberon Bay, where he was serving aboard the Formidable. He was captured and briefly imprisoned before being paroled back to France; he was formally exchanged in December 1760.^[3] 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.

Following the Franco-American alliance, he fought against the Royal Navy off the American coast, and victoriously led the frigate Astree in the Naval battle of Louisbourg, 21 July 1781. He was promoted to rank of commodore when he defeated the English frigate Ariel in the West Indies. In August 1782 he made his name by capturing two English forts (Prince of Wales Fort and York Fort) on the coast of Hudson Bay, but allowed the survivors, including Governor Samuel Hearne of Prince of Wales Fort, to sail off to England in exchange for a promise to release French prisoners held in England. The next year his family finally consented to his marriage to Louise-Eléonore Broudou, a young creole of modest origins whom he met on Ile de France (present-day Mauritius).^[4]

Scientific expedition - around the world

Louis XVI giving Lapérouse his instructions.

Objectives

After the 1783 Treaty of Paris, Lapérouse was appointed in 1785 by Louis XVI and his Minister of the Marine, the Marquis de Castries, to lead an expedition around the world. Louis XVI and his court had been stimulated by a proposal from the merchant adventurer William Bolts, who had earlier tried unsuccessfully to interest Louis’s brother-in-law, the Austrian 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, Directeur des Ports et Arsenaux, stated in the draft of the memorandum on the expedition he submitted to the King: “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”.^[5] Its aims were to complete the Pacific discoveries of James Cook (whom Lapérouse greatly admired), correct and complete maps of the area, establish trade contacts, open new maritime routes and enrich French science and scientific collections. His ships were the Astrolabe (under Fleuriot de Langle) and the Boussole,^[6] both 500 tons. They were storeships, reclassified as frigates for the occasion. Their objectives were geographic, scientific, ethnological, economical (looking for possibilities of 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 area.

Preparations

As early as March 1785, Lapérouse proposed that Paul Monneron, who had been chosen as the expedition's chief engineer, go to London to find out about the latest conclusions on the anti-scurvy measures recommended by Cook and the exchange items used by Cook in his dealings with the native peoples, and to buy scientific instruments of English manufacture.^[7]

The best-known figure on Cook's mission, Joseph Banks,^[8] intervened at the Royal Society to obtain him two inclining compasses that had belonged to Cook, and Monneron also bought scientific instruments figuring on a list produced by Fleurieu, having recourse to the largest English firms, particularly Ramsden. He even surpassed Fleurieu's directives by acquiring two sextants of a new type.

Crew

Lapérouse was well-liked by his men. Among his 114-man crew there were ten scientists: Dagelet, 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.^[9] Another of the scientists was Jean-André Mongez. Even both chaplains were scientifically schooled.

One of the men who applied for the voyage was a 16-year-old Corsican named Napoléon Bonaparte. Bonaparte, a second lieutenant from Paris's 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. (One can only speculate on the course history might have taken had Lapérouse selected young Napoleon for the trip.)

Copying the work methods of Cook's scientists, the scientists on this voyage would base their calculations of longitude on precision watches and the distance between the moon and the sun followed by theodolite triangulations or bearings taken from the ship,^[10] 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 nevertheless did not succeed any better in producing complete maps, though he managed to fill in some of the gaps.

Chile and Hawaii

Bust of Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse, by the sculpture workshop of Brest arsenal. On display at Brest naval museum

He and his 220 men left Brest on 1 August 1785,^[11] rounded Cape Horn, investigated the Spanish colonial government in the Captaincy General of Chile.^[12] He arrived on 9 April 1786 at the Easter Islands ^[13] He then sailed to the Sandwich Islands, present day Hawaiian Islands,^[14] where he became the first European to set foot on the island of Maui.

Alaska

He sailed on to Alaska, where he landed near Mount St. Elias in late June 1786^[15] 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.^[16] The men visited with the Tlingit tribe.^[17] Next, he headed south, exploring the northwest coast, including the outer islands of present day British Columbia ^[18][19]

California

Lapérouse sailed during August 10–30 all the way south to the Spanish Las Californias Province, present day California. He reportedly observed the only historical eruption of Mount Shasta on 7 September 1786, although this account is disputed.^[20] He arrived in Monterey Bay and at the Presidio of Monterey on 14 September 1786.^[21] He examined the Spanish pueblo settlements, ranchos, and Las Californias missions. He made critical notes on the missionary treatment of the California indigenous peoples with the Indian Reductions at the Franciscan run missions.

East Asia

He again crossed the Pacific Ocean in 100 days, arriving at Macau, where he sold the furs acquired in Alaska, dividing the profits among his men.^[22] The next year, on 9 April 1787,^[23] after a visit to Manila, he set out for the northeast Asian coasts. He saw the island of Quelpart, present day Cheju, which had been visited by Europeans only once before when a group of Dutchmen shipwrecked there in 1635. He visited the Asian mainland coasts of Korea.

Japan and Russia

The chart of Lapérouse's discoveries in the Sea of Japan and Sea of Okhotsk

Lapérouse then sailed northward to Northeast Asia and Oku-Yeso Island, present day Sakhalin Island, Russia. The Ainu people, Oku-Yeso Island residents, drew him a map showing: their second domain of Yezo Island, present day Hokkaidō Island, Japan; and the coasts of Tartary, Russia on mainland Asia. Lapérouse wanted to sail north through the narrow Strait of Tartary between Oku-Yeso Island and mainland Asia but failed. Instead he turned south, and then sailed west through La Pérouse Strait, between Oku-Yeso Island (Sakhalin) and (Hokkaidō), where he met more Ainu in their third domain of the Kuril Islands (Japan), and explored.

He sailed north and reached Petropavlovsk on the Russian Kamchatka peninsula on 7 September 1787.^[24] Here they rested from their trip, and enjoyed the hospitality of the Russians and Kamchatkans. In letters received from Paris Lapérouse was ordered to investigate the settlement the British were to establishing in New South Wales, Australia. Barthélemy de Lesseps, the French vice consul at Kronstadt, Russia that had joined the expedition as an interpreter, disembarked in Petropavlovsk to bring the expedition's ships' logs, charts, and letters to France, which he reached after a year-long, epic journey across Siberia and Russia.^[25]

South Pacific

His next stops were in the Navigator Islands (Samoa), on 6 December 1787.^[26] Just before he left, the Samoans attacked a group of his men, killing twelve of them, among whom were Lamanon and de Langle, commander of the Astrolabe. Twenty men were wounded.^[27] The expedition sailed to Tonga.

Australia

The expedition continued to Australia,^[28] arriving off Botany Bay on 24 January 1788,^[29] just as Captain Arthur Phillip was attempting to move the colony from there to Sydney Cove in Port Jackson.^[30] The First Fleet was unable to leave until 26 January because of a tremendous gale, which also prevented Lapérouse's ships from entering Botany Bay.

The last letter sent home by Lapérouse on the Serius

The British received him courteously, and each captain, through their officers, offered the other any assistance and supplies he may need.^[29] He and Phillip did not meet personally. Lapérouse sent his journals and letters to Europe with a British ship, the Sirius,^[31] obtained wood and fresh water, and on 10 March^[29] left for New Caledonia, Santa Cruz, the Solomons, the Louisiades, and the western and southern coasts of Australia. Although he wrote that he expected to be back in France by June 1789, neither he nor any of his men were seen again. Fortunately, before he set sail, Lapérouse had sent the valuable written details of his expedition to Paris where they were published posthumously.

Epilogue

Rescue mission of D'Entrecasteaux

On 25 September 1791 Rear Admiral Bruni d'Entrecasteaux departed Brest in search of Lapérouse. His expedition followed Lapérouse's proposed path through the islands northwest of Australia while at the same time making scientific and geographic discoveries.

In May 1793, he arrived at the island of Vanikoro, which is part of the Santa Cruz group of islands. D'Entrecasteaux thought he saw smoke signals from several elevated areas on the island, but was unable to investigate due to the dangerous reefs surrounding the island and had to leave. He died two months later. The botanist Jacques Labillardière, attached to the expedition, eventually returned to France and published his account, Relation du Voyage à la Recherche de la Pérouse, in 1800.^[32]

Discovery of the expedition

Posthumous bust of Lapérouse in 1828, by François Rude.

1826 expedition

It was not until 1826 that an Irish captain, Peter Dillon, found enough evidence to piece together the events of the tragedy. In Tikopia (one of the islands of Santa Cruz), he bought some swords he had reason to believe had belonged to Lapérouse. He made enquiries, and found that they came from nearby Vanikoro, where two big ships had broken up. Dillon managed to obtain a ship in Bengal, and sailed for the coral atoll of Vanikoro where he found cannon balls, anchors and other evidence of the remains of ships in water between coral reefs. He brought several of these artifacts back to Europe, as did Dumont d'Urville in 1828.^[33] De Lesseps, the only member of the expedition still alive at the time, identified them as all belonging to the Astrolabe. From the information Dillon received from the people on Vanikoro, a rough reconstruction could be made of the disaster that struck Lapérouse, which was confirmed by the find and search of the shipwreck of the Boussole in 1964.^[34]

2005 expedition

In May 2005, the wreck was formally identified as that of the Boussole.^[35] The 2005 expedition was embarked aboard Jacques Cartier, a French naval vessel. The ship supported a multi-discipline scientific team to investigate the "Mystery of Lapérouse".^[36] The mission was called "Opération Vanikoro-Sur les traces des épaves de Lapérouse 2005".

2008 expedition

A further similar mission was mounted in 2008^[37][38][39] The 2008 expedition displayed a further commitment by the French nation, alongside the New Caledonian association Salomon to further seek answers to the mysteries of fate of Lapérouse. The 2008 expedition received the patronage of the President of France and support and cooperation from the Ministry of Defense, The Ministry of Higher Education & Research, and the Ministry of Culture & Communication.

Preparation for the expedition took 24 months and was the 8th expedition enquiring after Lapérouse at Vanikoro island. It brought together greater technological resources than before and involved 2 ships, 52 crew members and 70 participants including almost 30 scientists and researchers. Between 16 September and 15 October 2008, two French Navy boats set out from Nouméa (New Caledonia) for a voyage to Vanikoro, recreating that section of the final journey of discovery made by Lapérouse.^{[40][41][42][43]}

The saga

Both ships had been wrecked on the reefs, the Boussole first. The Astrolabe was unloaded and taken apart. A group of men, probably the survivors of the Boussole, were massacred by the local inhabitants.^[44] According to natives, surviving sailors built a two-masted craft from the wreckage of the Astrolabe, and left westward about 9 months later, but what happened to them is unknown. Also, two men, one a "chief" and the other his servant, had remained behind, but had left Vanikoro a few years before Dillon arrived.^[45]

In November of 1790, Captain Edward Edwards, in command of HMS Pandora, sailed from England with orders to search for the mutineers of HMS Bounty. In March, 1791, the Pandora arrived at Tahiti and picked up 14 Bounty men who had stayed on that island. Although some of the 14 had not joined the mutiny, all were imprisoned and shackled in a cramped "cage" built on the deck which the men called "Pandora's Box." The Pandora then left Tahiti in search of the Bounty and the leader of the mutiny, Fletcher Christian.

The search was fruitless, but when passing by the island of Vanicoro, 0n August 13, smoke signals from the island were observed. Captain Edwards, single-minded in his search for the Bounty and convinced that the mutineers fearing discovery would not be sending distress signals, ignored them and sailed on. Sven Walroos, in his 1989 book, "Mutiny and Romance in the South Seas" suggests that the smoke signals were almost certainly sent by survivors of the Lapérouse expedition which later evidence indicated were still alive on Vanikoro at that time, three years after the Boussole and Astrolabe foundered and sank off that island. Wahlroos is "virtually certain" that Captain Edwards, whom he characterizes as one of England's most "ruthless," "inhuman," "callous" and "incompetent" sea captains, missed his chance to become "one of the heroes of maritime history" by solving the mystery of the lost Lapérouse expedition.^[46]

Places named after Lapérouse

Memorial to Lapérouse on Vanikoro

Places named in his honour include:

• La Perouse Bay near Fort Prince of Wales, Manitoba, Canada
• Mount La Perouse (3231 m) and La Perouse Glacier, Fairweather Range, Alaska
• Mount La Pérouse (1127 m) on the Queen Charlotte Islands of British Columbia
• La Pérouse Reef off the west coast of the Queen Charlotte Islands of British Columbia
• La Perouse Bank, Johnstone Strait, British Columbia, between Vancouver Island and the British Columbia mainland. This is the site of Environment Canada weather buoy 46026, at location 48.83N 126.00W
• La Perouse Strait between Hokkaidō and Sakhalin
• La Perouse, a suburb of Sydney, Australia, on the northern headland of Botany Bay
• Mount La Perouse (1157 m) and the La Perouse Range, Tasmania, Australia
• La Perouse Pinnacle (37 m), in the French Frigate Shoals, Hawaii
• La Perouse (mountain) (3078 m), in New Zealand's Southern Alps
• La Perouse Glacier, Westland, New Zealand
• Lapérouse Bay, North coast of Easter Island
• La Perouse Bay, site of his landing on Maui
• La Pérouse (crater), on the Moon
• Musée Lapérouse, the Lapérouse Museum in Albi Musée Lapérouse-Lapérouse Museum in Albi
• The Association Lapérouse, Albi France in Albi, France Association Lapérouse, Composition actuelle du Bureau de l’Association
• Lycee Lapérouse, Nouméa. A school named after Laperouse in the South Pacific^[47]
• Lycée Général Lapérouse, a school in the city of Albi, France^[48]
• Lycée Français La Pérouse, a total immersion French language school in San Francisco, California
• Lapérouse Square in Albi France^[49][50]
• Cinéma Cinemovida le Laperouse, a movie theatre in rue Sere-de-Rivieres, Albi, France^[51]
• Restaurant Lapérouse,^[52] at 51, quai des Grands Augustins, Paris France. Founded in 1766 by Lefèvre, it was formerly known as 'Limonadier du Roy'. Situated in a townhouse on the left bank of the Seine river, across from the Palais de Justice near Notre Dame. Named in 1878 after the famous navigator Lapérouse
• Restaurant La Perouse^[53] in Bromont, Quebec, Canada

The Micronesian Scrubfowl (Megapodius laperouse) is also named after Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse. The species is currently classified as endangered because it has a very small range, restricted to isolated undisturbed offshore islets. Megapodius laperouse occurs on Palau and the Northern Mariana Islands (to USA), and is extirpated from Guam (to USA)^[54]

Vessels named in his honour

Current serving ships

• The Lapérouse class are Hydrographic survey ships of the French Navy. Three ships are currently active in the French Navy. One further ship of the class has been transferred to Patrol service duties (action de l'Etat en mer (AEM)).
• The Lapérouse A791 is a current serving ship of the Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service of the French Navy. (Bâtiment hydrographique de deuxième classe (BH) - Service Hydrographique et Océanographique de la Marine-SHOM) is based at Brest, DCN Lorient. The ship was laid down on 11 June 1985, launched on 15 November 1985 and entered service in the Marine nationale as Lapérouse A791 on 20 April 1988.^[55][56][57]

Historic ships

• Laperouse, 1830-1875. The first ship to bear the explorers name was a 20 gun brig of 33.60m.^[58]

• Lapérouse, 1877–1898, served as a defensive cruiser in the French Navy. The Lapérouse was built at Brest, with work commencing in 1885, launched in 1877 and was subsequently wrecked in 1898 in the East Indies. The unarmoured cruisers of the Lapérouse class were wooden hulled ships with Iron beams. These ships had plough bows with a forecastle, a displacement of 2363 tons, a speed of 15 Knots and had a compliment of 264 sailors. Armament was fifteen 5.5 inch M1870M guns later replaced in Primauget with Quick Firing Conversions. Each ship also had eight 1 pounder revolvers.^[59][60]

• Lapérouse, 1919–1945, 63m, with a displacement of 781 tons.^[61] Built in Brest in 1918 as a refrigerated transport type Coëtlogon (comme transport frigorifique du type Coëtlogon.). It was cut in half and lengthened by 12 meters to allow the ship to be converted to the hydrographic service role. The ship departed from Brest on 1 April 1921 with the Octant and the Astrolabe to a campaign of hydrography on the coasts of Algeria and Syria. Later assigned to the hydrographic mission in Indochina, these three units left Toulon in January 1922. The Hydrographic ship Lapérouse then worked on the coast and rivers of Annam, Tonkin. At the beginning of World War II the ship was in reserve at Saigon. On 6 April1940 it was called into service to support a group of minesweepers in Indochina and then subsequently scuttled by its commander on 3 December 1945 in Cantho.^[62][63]

• Lapérouse F750, 1947–1977, (possibly also known as La Pérouse, also carried the pennant A750 and A753). The ship was first laid down in 1937 as the AVS Sans-Peur, a marine aviation seaplane tender/tanker. Work ceased during hostilities with the ship 42% finished and it was abandoned on 19 June 1940 at Saint-Nazaire. The ship was taken over by the occupying Kriegmarine and the Germans completed the ship and 3 more of the same class laid down in the same yard. The Sans-Peur was launched as the SG4 Merkur and entered service in 1943 as a fast escort (escorteurs rapides). In 1945 the SG4 Merkur was surrendered in a reasonably intact condition and subsequently refitted then re-launched in 1947 as Lapérouse F750, a batiment hydrographique aviso hydrographic survey vessel.^[64][65][66] The vessel was assigned to the Mururoa test program in 1962 and later taken out of service, re-fitted and re-assigned in 1967 as Lapérouse F753, a bâtiment hydrographique de 2ème classe. The ship was subsequently withdrawn from service and placed in reserve then de-commissioned in 1977.^{[67][68][69][70]}

Museums

• L’Association Lapérouse Albi France, a pour objectif d’encourager et coordonner les activités et études consacrées au navigateur.^[71] Association Lapérouse is situated in Albi-France at Musée Lapérouse.
• Laperouse Museum, this Museum examines the expedition of Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse through the Pacific between 1787-1788. The collection contains objects from the Laperouse wrecks and generic navigational and maritime history.^[72] 300 objects, 30 prints, 50 photographs (est). The museum is situated in Sydney Australia at the Kamay-Botany Bay National Park, Anzac Avenue, in the suburb of La Perouse.^[73][74]
• Musée Lapérouse, Square Botany Bay 41 rue Porta 81000, Albi (France).

Exhibitions

• L'association Salomon. Mystery of the disappearance of Monsieur de Lapérouse : Vanikoro wreckage - Hypothetical visit of New Caledonia-Wreckage of Jean-François de Galaup, count de Lapérouse.^[75] The mysteries of the wreckage, the survivors and of Lapérouse's probable landing in New Caledonia have led to a body of research since 1960. The "Association Salomon" started its own research in 1981 following espeditions initiated by Admiral de Brossard in the 1960s.
• A number of objects found at Vanikoro are displayed at the Musée de l'Histoire maritime de Nouvelle-Calédonie, Nouméa.
• "Objects Through Time". The Migration Heritage Centre at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney Australia.^[76]*The "Expedition Laperouse, The Road of the Echanges". Exposition Lapérouse is an exhibition copyrighted to the Ministère de la Défense, (French Ministry of the Defense) was held April 2 to June 26, 2005 at the Mussée of Maritime history of Nouméa.
• Musée Lapérouse. "Exposition temporaire consacrée à l’expédition Tara Artic", at Musée Lapérouse from 11 June to 19 September 2010.
• Western Australian Museum. Perth, Australia.^[77] on the Selection of Lapérouse by King Louis XVI to lead a major expedition of discovery.
• Le mystère Laperouse, The Lapérouse Mystery, at the Musée National de la Marine in Paris (L’exposition Lapérouse au Musée de la Marine-Exposition Le mystère Lapérouse opened on 19 March 2008) at France's Maritime Museum in Paris.^[78][79][80]
• "Monsieur de Lapérouse" at The Musée National de la Marine.^[81] Includes a marble bust of Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse, titled "Buste de Lapérouse" by François Rude, Marbre, L 84 x l. 66 x H 48 cm , N° inventaire : 41 OA 34, on display at the Palace of Chaillot in Paris.

Laperouse in literature and film

The fate of Laperouse, his ships and his men is the subject of a chapter from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne. Laperouse was also mentioned in an episode ("The Quest") of the series Northern Exposure where the character Joel (Rob Morrow) finds an old chart of the French explorer that will lead to a legendary "jewelled city of the North" (New York).^[82]

See also

• Age of Discovery
• Age of enlightenment
• Explorers
• French cruiser Lapérouse
• History of the French Navy
• La Perouse Strait
• La Perouse, New South Wales
• Lapérouse A791
• List of current French Navy ships
• Micronesian Megapode
• Zo d'Axa (Alphonse Gallaud de la Pérouse, anarchist and the EnDehors)

External links

• Archive.org The Commonwealth of Australia, Australian Federal Handbook 84th meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, held in Australia. August, 1914.
• Siskiyous.edu, English language bibliography with extensive references to Lapérouse both in translations to English and the citation of original French document sources spanning many decades.
• André Engels, Jean-François de Galoup, Comte de Lapérouse
• John Robson, La Perouse, Eighteenth Century French Sailor and leader of a Voyage into the Pacific
• see Lapérouse genealogy on samlap Geneanet
• Wéry, Claudine (8 April 2005). "'What news of Lapérouse?'". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2005/apr/08/guardianweekly.guardianweekly11. 
•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). "Lapérouse, Jean-François de Galaup, Comte de". Encyclopædia Britannica (Eleventh ed.). Cambridge University Press. 
•  "Lapérouse, Jean François de Galaup". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1892. 
• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online

Notes

• Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse-Naval officer; b. 23 Aug. 1741 in the parish of Saint-Julien in Albi, France, son of Victor-Joseph de Galaup and Marguerite de Rességuier, Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online, University of Toronto. (2000) [1]
• Lapérouse, University of Sydney (1868-1839) University of Sydney Library, 1997, Sydney Australia, Scott Ernest. [2] From the print edition published by Angus and Robertson, Sydney 1912.
• The Lost Voyage of Lapérouse (Vancouver Maritime Museum, 1986). Allen, Edward Webber.
• The Vanishing Frenchman: The Mysterious Disappearance of Lapérouse (Rutland, Vermont: C.D. Tuttle, Co., 1959)" and "Inglis, Robin.
• The Lost Voyage of Lapérouse, Inglis, Robin. (Vancouver Maritime Museum, 1986)
• Mount Shasta Annotated Bibliography Chapter 4 Early Exploration: Lapérouse Expedition, 1786.
• Dunmore, J. (ed.) The Journal of Jean-François de Galaup de la Pérouse 1785–1788. Published by the Hakluyt Society. Volume 1; 1994, ISBN 0-904180-38-7. Volume 2; 1995, ISBN 0-904180-39-5.
• Reader's Digest, Great Mysteries of the Past. Published by Reader's Digest in 1991. Section "They Vanished Without a Trace". Article "Destination: Great South Sea". Pages 12–17.
• (French) "2e Cahier du Conseil national des parcs et jardins - Le voyage des plantes - Les jardins, acteurs culturels de la biodiversité". culture.gouv.fr. http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/politique-culturelle/Voyage_des_plantes.pdf. Retrieved 8 October 2010. 

References