Facts about Jean-Francois de La Perouse
- 08
French navigator Jean-François de La Pérouse was the first European to enter Lituya Bay in Alaska, which he named Port des Français in 1786.
- 07
La Perouse's detailed charts and observations from 1785-1788 were so valuable that French hydrographers continued publishing his survey data for over a century after his disappearance.
- 06
King Louis XVI personally approved La Perouse's 1785 expedition as a response to British Pacific exploration under Captain Cook.
- 05
Before his Pacific voyage, La Perouse served as a naval officer in the American Revolutionary War, commanding the frigate Astrolabe during the 1782 Battle of Cuddalore off the coast of India.
- 04
The Boussole and Astrolabe, La Perouse's two ships, were equipped with chronometers and advanced astronomical instruments that allowed him to create the first accurate maps of the North Pacific coast between California and Alaska.
- 03
During his Pacific voyage, La Perouse documented previously unknown indigenous populations and collected detailed ethnographic observations that were later published in a 1797 Atlas.
- 02
La Perouse's expedition vanished near the New Hebrides in 1788, with all 221 surviving crew members lost to shipwreck on Vanikoro Island.
- 01
In 1785, French explorer La Perouse led an expedition of two ships with 226 men to circumnavigate the globe and map the Pacific.