La Perouse ,(Jean Francoise Galaup who added the name of his province to his own), set out with two ships (the Astrolabe & the Bressole) to explore the Pacific. His travels took him north along the American coast and south down the Asian Coast. as well as to Australia and numerous Pacici Islands. Fortunately he ssnt all his documentation back to France before he & his ships disapeared. Years later their wreckage was located on an island where they had been shipwrecked on a coral reef and masacred by natives.