BSIP Gets A La Perouse Relic
p. 27 · Read in the full issue
La Perouse Relic
Henderson Airfield, on Tues day, August 18 (a week before Lunga Bridge collapsed), was busier than usual. Immediately after the take-off of the Qantas DCS, on its weekly return flight to Lae, a French Lancaster landed from Noumea.
During its overnight stay in Honiara, Captain Brossart, the Commander of the Naval Bass, Noumea, who was a passenger on the ’plane, made a formal presentation to Mr. M. D. I.
Gass, Acting High Commissioner.
The presentation was in the form of a Cannonball, recently recovered from the Astrolabe by the expedition which has been operating in Vanikoro waters over the past several months.
The Cannonball is mounted on a 7-in. squade wooden base and is inscribed “ AST ROLOBE 1788, TIARE 1959”, the “Tirre’ be ing the French patrol vessel which recovered several relics from the “ Astrolabe” during the recent expedition.