The journey

La Perouse left the French port of Brest in August 1785 and headed south. In the next 2 and a half years, La Boussole and L'Astrolabe would sail many thousands of kilometres and cross the Indian, Atlantic and Pacific Oceans several times.

The map of the route taken by La Perouse was first published in Voyage de La Perouse autour du monde [La perouse's journey around the world] in 1791. It shows the route taken by the expedition until 1788 when the French were last seen in Botany Bay.

The map below is from a 1798 French edition of Voyage de La Perouse.

Mappemonde... [The voyage map] from Atlas du Voyage de La Pérouse autour du monde, 1798, A Paris: Chez Plassan, Imprimeur-Libraire
Printed volume  DSM/ X980/ 3