Skip to main content
Advanced Search
Plan des Îles Vanikoro ou de La Pérouse, reconnues par le Captaine de Frégate Dumont d'Urville
Plan des Îles Vanikoro ou de La Pérouse, reconnues par le Captaine de Frégate Dumont d'Urville

Plan des Îles Vanikoro ou de La Pérouse, reconnues par le Captaine de Frégate Dumont d'Urville

Maker (French)
Editor (French, 1787 - 1849)
Date1833
Object number00040481
NameChart
MediumInk on paper
DimensionsOverall: 485 x 665 mm
ClassificationsMaps, charts and plans
Credit LineANMM Collection
DescriptionChart of Vanikoro based on Dumont d'Urville's survey in 1828. This chart shows the track his ship, the ASTROLABE, took around the island. It also marks the place -annotated "Debris du naufrage" (wreckage)- on the island's fringing reef where wreckage was found and the location of the monument to La Perouse erected by Dumont d'Urville's order. HistoryIn August 1785 the French explorer La Perouse sailed from France on a voyage to the Pacific with the ships LA BOUSSOLE and L'ASTROLABE. In January 1788 La Perouse's expedition anchored in Botany Bay just as the recently arrived 'First Fleet' was moving to the better anchorage at Sydney Cove (in Port Jackson) The French ships remained at Botany Bay (Frenchman's Bay) until 10 March 1788 before sailing on what was scheduled as the last leg of their ambitious voyage of Pacific exploration. Upon completion of this exploration segment in the South West Pacific, it was expected that the ships would head for Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. But, when no news of the expedition had been received by 1791, another French naval expedition was assembled under the command of Admiral Bruny d'Entrecasteaux and sent in search of the La Perouse expedition. Despite a long search, no trace of the missing ships was discovered by d'Entrecasteaux; it was not until 1826 that the sandalwood trader Peter Dillon heard about traces of wreckage from what appeared to be French ships at Vanikoro Island. In 1828, following Dillon's directions, Dumont d'Urville confirmed the identity of the wreckage, surveyed Vanikoro Island and erected a monument to La Perouse's expedition. The chart shows the track of Dumont d'Urville's ship ASTROLABE around the island, the place where wreckage was found (marked 'Debris du naufrage') and the place where the monument to La Perouse was erected. This chart is a record of the definitive identification of wreckage associated with the loss of La Perouse’s ships off Vanikoro, 40 years after their disappearance. The expedition’s demise was a great disappointment in France and its disappearance was a major maritime mystery in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The expedition's royal patron (King Louis XVI) is said to have asked, shortly before his execution by guillotine in 1793, whether finally there was some news of La Perouse.