NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
The lost expedition of La Perouse
From: Frank Reed CT
Date: 2005 Jun 8, 00:44 EDT
From: Frank Reed CT
Date: 2005 Jun 8, 00:44 EDT
The French once upon a time had a claim to Australia following the explorations of Jean-Francois de Galaud, Comte de La Perouse in the 1780s, but his expedition was lost near the Solomons in 1788 and for 200 years there was no certainty what had become of his ships, although two wrecks were believed to be "probably" those of La Perouse's expedition. Last month, a team of French researchers found the "smoking gun" in the debris on the seafloor. The two frigates in the expedition of La Perouse were named 'The Compass' (La Boussole) and 'The Astrolabe' (L'Astrolabe) so it seems rather fitting that another navigational instrument, a sextant, was the key to identifying the wrecks. Quoting cnn.com: "Last week, a sextant -- an instrument used by navigators to measure the angular distance of the sun from the horizon -- with the inscription "Mercier" was found near "the fault" [a reef location]. The Solomons Association said the recovery of the instrument had allowed them to identify the ship, as documents indicate that La Perouse had a sextant aboard La Boussole that was made by "Master Mercier"." -FER 42.0N 87.7W, or 41.4N 72.1W. www.HistoricalAtlas.com/lunars
