Inauguration du monument eleve par l'Astrolabe a La Perouse a Vanikoro

Artist Louis Auguste de Sainson (French, 1801 - 1887)

Engraver Hippolyte Vanderburch

Artist Victor-Jean Adam (1801-1866)

Date1833

Object number00004392

DCMITypeStill image

NameLithograph

MediumInk on paper

DimensionsOverall: 550 x 745 x 45 mm

ClassificationsArt

Credit LineANMM Collection

Collections

Navigators and Explorers

Terms

DescriptionDedication of a monument to La Perouse on Vanikoro Island by the crew of Dumont d'Urville's ASTROLABE (March 1828). The inscription on the quadrangular stone prism reads 'A la memoire de la Perouse et de ses compagnons' (To the memory of La Perouse and his companions). It shows the ceremonial unveiling on 14th March 1828 of a monument dedicated to the memory of La Perouse his men at Vanikoro Island. This hand-coloured lithograph is based on an original drawing by Louis Auguste de Sainson. It appeared as plate 187 in Dumont d'Urville's 1833 publication 'Voyage de la corvette Astrolabe...' HistoryThe ASTROLABE, commanded by Dumont d'Urville, left France in April 1826 on a scientific expedition to the Pacific by way of the Cape of Good Hope and Australia. After a short stay in Port Jackson the ASTROLABE sailed to New Zealand, Tonga, Fiji, New Ireland, New Britain and northern New Guinea before heading south to Hobart where it spent Christmas 1827. In January 1828 the ASTROLABE sailed back to the tropics, heading for Vanikoro island where the Franco-Irish trader Peter Dillon had found evidence of the La Perouse expedition a few months earlier. The La Perouse expedition had sailed from France in 1785 to survey and explore the Pacific, but disappeared without trace after leaving Botany Bay in March 1788. Arriving at Vanikoro in February, Dumont d'Urville remained at the island for almost a month. During this stay, the expeditioners found evidence indicating that La Perouse's ships BOUSSOLE and ASTROLABE had been wrecked on the reefs at Vanikoro. Amongst the objects recovered were cannon and anchors which Dumont d'Urville later took back to France where they were incorporated in a memorial to La Perouse. The expedition also erected a monument to La Perouse on the shore at Manieve Bay. The lithograph entitled 'Inauguration du monument eleve par l'Astrolabe a La Perouse a Vanikoro' by Sainson shows the crew of Dumont d'Urville's ASTROLABE saluting the memory of La Perouse during the inauguration of the monument on 14 March 1828. SignificanceThe fate of La Perouse's expedition became a great mystery following its disappearance in 1788. Supported by Louis XVI, the expedition represented one of the most significant scientific endeavours of the eighteenth century.