De La Pérouse, Jean-François De Galaup ___ 1741-1788 ___ French ___ sailor explorer

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
Jean François de Galaup was born in Albi, on the banks of the river Tarn, and educated at the local Jesuit college, before training at the naval college in Brest. Around this time he inherited some property and took on the appellation de De La Pérouse. He fought in the Seven Years' War (1756-1763). For a while, he was stationed at Ile de France (Mauritius) where he met his future wife, Eleonore Broudou. Around 1780, he was promoted to commodore, and gained naval successes off the Canadian coast at Louisbourg, Nova Scotia, in 1781, and Hudson's Bay in 1782. He was then chosen for a major exploration of the Pacific Ocean. With two frigates 'La Boussole' and 'L'Astrolabe' he left Brest in 1785. His journey took him to Brazil, Chile, the Sandwich Islands, Alaska, California, Macao, the Philippines, Korea, Japan, and finally Siberia. From Siberia, De La Perouse's journals and maps were dispatched home. Thereafter, the expedition sailed to the southern Pacific. Some of the crew were killed on the Samoa Islands, but the expedition made it to Botany Bay in Australia. Setting sail once more, De La Perouse and all his crew were never heard of again. It seems, from evidence collected later, that he and all the crew were killed on one of the Santa Cruz islands.
A biography link
Wikipedia bio

DIARY DATES, CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
1785-1788 ___ maritime exploration Brazil US Philippines Japan Russia

WEB TEXT LINKS
 

ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT LINKS
 

SOME PUBLISHED TITLES
The Journal of Jean-Francois de la Perouse 1785-1788
 

May 2005, June 2008
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IMPORTANT NOTES AND CAUTIONS: 1) The first line of basic information may be incomplete in several ways: some historical figures have different names (titles, pen-names); their birth and death dates may be unknown or uncertain (g - guess, c - circa); similarly, their occupations may be unknown, or they may have had other jobs; and, for early diarists, I've used 'British' a bit too freely. 2) The biographical summary may not be accurate. It was compiled quickly from various sources, mostly on the internet, and the facts were not checked anywhere near as rigorously as they would have been if they'd been intended for publication in a printed form. 3) The journal dates and descriptors (which are in no particular order) must be treated with caution: since I have not examined the diaries myself, the descriptors are only guesses based on bibliographies, anthologies and internet biographies. 4) For the biography and etext links, I have ignored any sites with charges, and I have avoided, wherever possible, those with pop-ups or too much advertising. I have limited myself to providing three etext links where there is some variety between them. 5) For the original manuscript links, I have limited myself to providing a maximum of two (although, for a few diarists, their original diaries are held in more than two places). 6) I have provided the titles - chosen randomly - for up to three printed editions of the diaries.