Narrative and Successful Result of a Voyage in the South Seas, Performed by Order of the Government of British India, to ascertain the actual Fate of La Perouse's Expedition

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Author: Peter Dillon (1788-1847) Year: 1829 Publisher: Hurst, Chance, and Company Place: London Description: 2 Volumes. lxxvii+302 with folding frontispiece; 436. pages with folding color frontispiece and one folding map. Royal octavo (9¼" x 5½"), rebound in half morocco, gilt to spine, raised bands. (Ferguson, 1255; Hill, 480; Hocken, p. 44; Kroepelien, 296; McLaren, 'Lapérouse in the Pacific', 71; Spence, 'Bligh', p.15) First Edition. In 1826, Dillon had command of the St. Patrick and was attempting to get to Fiji when he happened upon Tikopia, one of the Santa Cruz Islands. There he found many of the inhabitants in possession of items of European manufacture such as sword guards, teacups, knives, and glass beads. He learned from the Tikopians that the items had come from two ships wrecked some years before on the neighboring island of Vanikoro. Dillon was convinced he'd happened on the wreckage of Boussole and Astrolabe , the two French frigates of the La Pérouse expedition. The ships had disappeared in the Pacific after calling at Botany Bay in 1788, and their fate had been a mystery for nearly 40 years. Dillon sailed to Calcutta to report his discovery and garner support for an exploration of Vanikoro. The British government in India of Lord Amherst commissioned him and gave him command of the British East India Company's survey vessel Research . In January 1827 Dillon sailed for Vanikoro. After a long and difficult journey he reached Vanikoro in September 1827. While th

• Binding: Hardcover

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