By John Dunmore
From Baird Maritime:
La Pérouse, was a Pre-revolutionary aristocratic French naval officer and explorer who is probably best known for disappearing without trace near what is currently known as Vanuatu.
This sells the man short. Fortunately, this books fills in the details of La Pérouse's life and many achievements very well. And what a life it was. Working roughly contemporaneously with Britain's James Cook, La Pérouse contributed considerably to charting the jigsaw that was then the Pacific Ocean.
A determined explorer, his voyages were enlightening and his charts important. His was a remarkable life which, like Cook and, later, Flinders, ended much too soon.
His final voyage in 1788 led to the disappearance of both his ships and his crews. It was not until 1827 before relics of the ships were found.
A very readable book that reveals much more of the exploration of the Pacific than has descended from more Anglo-centric histories.
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