After James Cook's death, a large-scale French expedition was organised to the Pacific, concentrating on areas left unexplored or inadequately surveyed by Cook and led by the experienced and highly regarded naval officer, Galaup de La Pérouse. He sailed with two ships in August 1785, making for Tenerife, Brazil and Chile. His travels encompassed Easter Island, the Hawaiian group and the Northwest Coast of America; California, where they were the first foreign visitors to the new Spanish missions; China; the Philippines and Formosa; and the unknown waters around Korea, Sakhalin and Kamchatka. La Pérouse then sailed south towards the Samoan group and to Botany Bay in New South Waleswhere he arrived on 26 January 1788. He left on 10 March, and at this point, the expedition vanished.
An account of the voyage was later published, based on La Pérouse's journal which he sent back from various ports of call. It contained his comments on his discoveries and on the varioussettlements he visited, and a wealth of information on native people, their customs and language, and reports by the naturalists on board his ships. This second volume contains the balance of the annotated narrative, from the Philippines to Botany Bay, selected correspondence from La Pérouse and other members of the expedition, the ships' muster rolls, further editorial material, maps, a select bibliography and the analytical index.
- ISBN10 0904180395
- ISBN13 9780904180398
- Publish Date 1 January 1995 (first published 1 January 1994)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 14 March 2007
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
- Imprint Hakluyt Society
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 424
- Language English