Overview

Jean-François De Galup, Comte De La Pérouse is second only to James Cook in his historical significance and was the major explorer of the Pacific in the eighteenth century. Pérouse’s life has been the subject of prolonged study by John Dunmore, the acknowledged world expert, and this fresh and lively biography reveals the epic adventure of an extraordinary life. As a naval officer La Pérouse captured two English forts in Hudson Bay in 1782 and was recognised by both sides for his courage and humanity. Three years later the King of France put him in charge of an expedition to rival James Cook’s. Pérouse’s two 500 ton ships left France in August 1785 replete with a mathematician and three naturalists. They mapped the American north west from Alaska to California and the unknown seas north of Japan and the Siberian coast. During the voyage messengers were sent overland back to France with reports and discoveries. Just five days after the First Fleet landed at Botany Bay, Australia, La Pérouse arrived and uneasy pleasantries were exchanged. Shortly after Pérouse set sail towards the Solomon Islands and he and his ships were never seen again. A romantic man with the saddest marriage story, a great soldier, an inspired leader and a man with a mysterious end, Pérouse’s story has now finally come to light with this major new biography.

Full Product Details

Author:   John Dunmore
Publisher:   Exisle Publishing
Imprint:   Exisle Publishing
ISBN:  

9781775592426

ISBN 10:   1775592421
Pages:   304
Publication Date:   01 March 2006
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Undefined
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Prologue: 11 November 1826 PART 1: A TEENAGER AT WAR 1. Albi: 25 August 1741 2. Brest: December 1756-March 1757 3. A Teenager at War: April 1757-November 1759 4. The Slow End of a Disastrous War: January 1760-January 1763 PART 2: INTERLUDE 5. Marking Time: February 1763-December 1771 PART 3: DOWN IN THE INDIAN OCEAN 6. Arguments in the Isle de France: January-September 1772 7. Service in Indian Waters: April 1773-April 1774 8. Introducing Eleonore Broudou: May 1774-September 1776 PART 4: THE AMERICAN WAR 9. Back in France: May 1777-June 1778 10. The American Campaign Begins: July 1778-February 1780 11. The Struggle Continues: March 1780-April 1781 12. Triumphs and Defeats: April 1781-May 1782 13. The Hudson Bay Raid: May-November 1782 PART 5: FAMILY BUSINESS 14. Marriage at Last: April-October 1783 PART 6: THE GREAT VOYAGE 15. An Inquiry in Lorient and Plans in Paris: October 1783-May 1784 16. Paris: The Final Plans: September 1784-June 1785 17. South and North to Alaska: August 1785-June 1786 18. Alaska to California: July-September 1786 19. Across the Pacific to China and the Philippines: October 1786-March 1787 20. The Philippines to Kamchatka: April-September 1787 21. Kamchatka to Australia: October 1787-March 1788 22. Forty Years of Oblivion: 1788-1827 PART 7: THE UNENDING SEARCH Epilogue La Perouse Commemorated Notes Select Bibliography Index MAPS France British North America in the 1780s The West Indies Voyage of La Perouse La Perouse in Alaska La Perouse in North-East Asia Possible route of the expedition May-June 1788

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Author Information

John Dunmore is Professor Emeritus of French at Massey University, New Zealand. In a long and distinguished academic career, he has written more than 20 books on French navigation in the Pacific, a subject on which he is an acknowledged authority. Professor Dunmore was made a knight of the Legion of Honour by the French Government in 1976, and an officer of the Ordre des Palmes Academiques in 1986. He was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2001.

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