The background...

Jean Francois Galaup de

Laperouse, perhaps

France’s most illustrious mariner and explorer, dis appeared without trace in the southwest Pacific in 1788. His last known land fall prior to this tragedy was Botany Bay, which he left on March 10, 1788.

Laperouse had set out on his voyage of discovery from Brest in Brittany on August 1, 1785. After leav ing Brest, his expedition sailed round the Horn and out into the Pacific in two ships, L ’Astrolabe and La Boussole. During his historic voyage, Laperouse visited Easter Island, Hawaii, Alas ka and California before heading across to Macao, the Philippines, through the Sea of Japan and up to Petropavlovsk in Siberia, which was reached on September 6, 1787. He then sailed south to Tutuila in what is now American Samoa, where he lost 11 men, including his second in-command de Langle, during a watering expedi tion. During the affray the expedition lost a long boat, and it was with the object of replacing it that Laperouse sailed for Botany Bay.

Once this had been achieved, Laperouse sent an officer to Governor Phil lip at Port Jackson with his despatches up to that time.

Phillip undertook to see that they reached France safely.

Among the despatches was Laperouse’s proposed course for his eventual re turn trip to France he had intended to visit Tonga, New Caledonia, the Solo mon Islands and the Louisiade Archipelago of Papua New Guinea before passing through Torres Strait and home via Mauri tius.

However, Laperouses plans were not to be realised — all that is known with certainty after he left Botany Bay is that his ships came to grief on the reefs at Vanikoro in the Solomons.

Even this was not known for 38 years afterwards when an Irishman, Captain Peter Dillon, called at Tikopia, an island near Vanikoro, and was sold a silver sword scabbard which Dillon be lieved might have belonged to Laperouse. He learned from the Vanikoroans that two large ships had arrived at their island many years previously and that both had been wrecked in a storm shortly afterwards.

After returning quickly to mount what he hoped would be a rescue mission, for he was very short of provisions and his ship was leaking, Dillon spent six weeks on Vanikoro in 1827 and established beyond doubt that the two wrecked ships belonged to the ill fated Laperouse expedition.

The wreck which the Vanikoroans showed Dillon was presumed to be that of the Astrolabe — the location of Laperouses flagship the Boussole remained a mys tery until 1962, when Reece Discombe, a Vila-based marine salvage expert, re vealed that he had disco vered the location of the wreck while on a salvage assignment on Vanikoro.

Since that time there have been many research trips to the island and many relics and artefacts have been brought to the surface and exhibited in museums in Europe and the Pacific. In fact the Laperouse story seemed to have come to its

conclusion.

Darrell

Tryon.