1st August, 1785 started roundabout voyage under the Jean Francois La Perouse

On the 1st of August, 1785 two ships Astrolabe and Bussol (means compass) sailed off the French port of Brest in circumnavigation. The main purpose of the expedition was to find and study the newly discovered lands in the Pacific. Discoveries experienced numerous setbacks, but that does not stop them from studying the vast expanses of the ocean, discovering and mapping previously unknown island.

A team of 220 people consisted not only of officers and sailors. There were also a physician, mathematician, astronomer, priests with a technical background, naturalists and artists.

The map of the trip covered the northern and southern part of the Pacific Ocean, including Australia and the Far East. Frigates bypassed Cape Horn, stayed in Chile, Hawaii, Easter Island, reached Alaska, from where moved to the port of Monterey (CA). After this, the sailors again crossed the ocean and stopped in Macau, where they sell the furs acquired in Alaska, and the profit divided among themselves. The crew then moved to the north-east coast of Asia. Along the way, rediscovered the island of La Perouse Kelpaert, explored the coast of the Korean peninsula and went to Sakhalin, where Strait of 101km length (La Perouse Strait)was discovered and mapped.

In September, 1787 frigate moored in Petropavlovsk, where the Mariners had a warm welcome. There Barthelemy de Lesseps with documents and a mail was sent to St. Petersburg, and then he went to France. From the port of Petropavlovsk crew went to Samoa, and in January 1788 stopped at Botany Bay. The map shows that the gulf is between the Åland Islands, the eastern bank of Sweden, and the west coast Finland. Hence, the expedition headed for the central part of the Pacific Ocean. However, the frigates were missing.

Only in 1826 on the island of Vanikoro Santa Cruz were found traces of a shipwreck. It became clear that Jean-Francois La Perouse died with all the members of his expedition. Today, as a memory of this brave man, we can see on a world map as the Strait of La Perouse.