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

Maker Victor Amadee Gressien (French)

Date1936

Object number00005992

NameChart

MediumInk on paper

DimensionsOverall: 745 x 1055 mm, 0.15 kg

ClassificationsMaps, charts and plans

Credit LineANMM Collection

Terms

DescriptionChart titled 'Plan des Îles Vanikoro ou de La Pérouse, reconnues par le Captaine de Frégate Dumont d'Urville. Levé et dressé par Mr. Gressien enseigne de le vaisseau. Expedition de la corvette de S.M. l'ASTROLABE Fevrier et Mars 1828'. Plan of the Vanikoro or La Pérouse Islands, recognized by Frigate Captain Dumont d'Urville. Raised and trained by Mr. Gressien teaches the vessel. Expedition of the corvette of S.M. l'ASTROLABE February and March HistoryIn August 1785 the French navigator La Perouse sailed from France on a voyage to explore the Pacific Ocean in the ships LA BOUSSOLE and L'ASTROLABE. In January 1788 La Perouse's expedition anchored in Botany Bay just as the ships of the recently arrived 'First Fleet' were moving to a better anchorage in Port Jackson. The French ships remained at Botany Bay (Frenchman's Bay) until 10 March 1788 when they departed to complete the final leg of their ambitious exploration voyage of the Pacific. The ships were thought to ultimately be destined for Mauritius, 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 to search for the missing expedition ships. The La Perouse expedition’s loss 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, just before his execution by guillotine in 1793 whether, finally, there was some news of La Perouse! However, despite a long search by D'Entrecasteaux, no clues were discovered and it would not be until 1826 that an Anglo-Irish sandalwood trader, Peter Dillon, investigated stories he had heard in Tikopia about shipwrecks on Vanikoro; he subsequently heard more stories and eventually discovered the remains of a wreck on the fringing reef around neighbouring Vanikoro Island. Acting on Dillon's reports and after finding and recovering ship's equipment from the reef flat, Dumont d'Urville surveyed adjacent Vanikoro Island in 1828 and erected a monument to the missing ships and their crews. This chart is a result of that survey. Dumont d'Urville gained fame for his role in unravelling the disappearance of La Perouse, one of the greatest maritime mysteries of the 19th century; and for his exploration of Antarctica. On 8 May 1842 he was killed with his family when the train they were on derailed and caught fire during a journey from Versailles to Paris. SignificanceA chart of Vanikoro Island - Santa Cruz Group, Solomon Islands - published in 1936, based on the survey carried out by Dumont d'Urville in 1828 and on subsequent surveys carried out in the course of the 19th century by visiting French naval vessels.