Albi - Lapérouse

Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse, was born near Albi in 1741. Louis XVI appointed him to lead an expedition around the world. It was planned, to complete the Pacific discoveries of James Cook.

Lapérouse´s ships were the "L'Astrolabe" and the "La Boussole". There was a 220-men-crew. One young man, who had applied for the voyage was 16-years-old Napoléon Bonaparte. He was not chosen and so stayed in France.

The ships left Brest in 1785 and it was expected to see them back again in 1789, but both ships had been wrecked on Vanikoro Island in 1788. The fate of them was unknown upto 1826, when cannonballs, anchors and other evidence of the remains of ships were found in the reefs of Vanikoro. Some of these remains are kept in the Lapérouse-Museum, located near the Pont Vieux.

www.laperouse-france.fr/

"Landfalls", is a very entertaining novel, written by Naomi J. Williams.
It´s fictional, but very "near" to the existing sources.

naomijwilliams.com/publications/landfalls/