The French expedition on the ships Bussol and Astrolabe has been going on for over two years. Its leader, Jean-Francois de La Perouse, was entrusted with the ambitious in scope and duration of the task of exploring the globe. Louis XVI and his immediate entourage tried to somewhat equalize the maritime prestige of France that had been shaken in the second half of the 18th century.
By the end of 1787, the expedition carried out a large amount of research work. The travelers visited various parts of Asia, America and Oceania, making contact with the population living there many times. Until now, all conflict situations have been limited only to the attempts of the natives to steal those things that, in their opinion, are valuable. The bloodshed was easily avoided not only by virtue of clear instructions to behave humanely with savages, but also thanks to the personal qualities of La Perouse himself.
However, in December 1787, on Maoun Island, the system of "constructive dialogue between two civilizations" for the first time seriously failed.
Blood on the sand. Maoun
On the morning of December 10, 1787, the Boussol and Astrolabe were anchored off Maoun Island. The crews needed rest, they needed to replenish the stocks of fresh provisions and fresh water, which was last poured in Kamchatka. La Pérouse considered the place where his ships were not very convenient, so he decided to disembark on the island in the morning for provisions and water, and in the afternoon to wean off and act according to circumstances.
From early morning the Bussol and Astrolabe were surrounded by a whole flotilla of pirogues, on which the Aborigines arrived to carry out the simplest trading operations. The pies surrounded the European ships in a dense group, and their passengers sought not only to make a profitable exchange for themselves and, possibly, get something as a gift, but also to get to the deck. Since such a penetration into the ship entailed the immediate massive loss of a variety of items, La Perouse ordered to restrain the guests.
While one part of the crew played the role of a barrage cordon in front of a crowd of natives thirsty for gifts and souvenirs, the other was preparing for the landing. It was decided to equip two launches from each ship. In addition to the sailors and soldiers, empty water barrels were to be immersed there.
Promotional video:
Aboriginal double-decker canoes from the Friendship Islands.
Trade with the aborigines was in full swing when the longboats rolled away from the sides and moved towards the shore. La Perouse and his companions landed in a small convenient cove, the commander of the Astrolabe, de Langle, asked permission to explore the coast for a couple of miles. Subsequently, this decision became the catalyst for a whole chain of events that led to tragic consequences. The French landed safely, in the area of the chosen bay there were quite acceptable sources of water. Soon, their loneliness on the shore was enthusiastically disturbed by nearly two hundred natives. They behaved peacefully, some of them had items and provisions, which they hoped to exchange for something they needed for themselves.
Among the newcomers were several women who gestured that in exchange for beads they could provide guests with something more valuable than piglets or parrots. The Royal Marines, who were in the cordon, let the women through the perimeter after lingering resistance, but men also began to seep in after them. Some confusion began, during which one of the natives made his way onto a boat pulled out of the water, grabbed a hammer and began to strike at the sailors who were trying to stop it. By order of La Perouse, the hammer was taken from the unlucky researcher of other people's things, and he himself was thrown into the water.
Order was generally restored without the use of force - the commander of the expedition expected to sail shortly after lunch and did not want to leave a bad impression of himself among the natives. Therefore, the French limited themselves to only a manifestation of deep concern, which was expressed in firing a shotgun at three newly purchased pigeons, thrown into the air. La Perouse thought that this gesture of intimidation would be enough. The natives, obviously, understood this in their own way, believing that white weapons can only kill birds, but so far they have not submitted their appearance. Taking advantage of the atmosphere of complete complacency, La Perouse and several officers and soldiers visited the native village, finding it quite pleasant.
Returning to the ship, the water carrier found that trade continued with the same fury, and the local chief arrived on the deck of the Bussoli with accompanying persons. The Aboriginal leader very willingly took numerous gifts, but the repeated demonstration of the capabilities of firearms on birds did not make a serious impression on him. La Perouse ordered, with all delicacy, to escort the guests away and prepare to sail.
At that moment, a launch from the Astrolabe arrived with de Langle, overwhelmed with delight. He said that he had found a very decent cove, next to which there was a native village, the inhabitants of which are very complacent. And there are springs with very good fresh water nearby. De Langle insisted on a visit to this bay to stock up on water. He, like his commander, was also a big fan of James Cook's exploits and methods, one of which was the constant supply of fresh water to the crew.
De Langle believed that it was necessary to replenish the reserves of this resource precisely in the bay he discovered, since the water that La Perouse and his companions had collected was not enough. An additional argument was the fact that the Astrolabe team already had several people with primary signs of scurvy. After a rather heated dispute (by the way, La Pérouse and de Langle were old friends and colleagues since the American war), the commander of the expedition gave in. We decided to disembark the next day.
Because of the excitement, the ships were three miles offshore at night. In the morning, preparations began for the campaign for water. It was attended by four launches, which accommodated sixty-one people under the general command of de Langle. All the French were armed with muskets and boarding sabers. As an additional precaution, six falconets were installed on the launches.
Bussol and Astrolabe were once again surrounded by a whole flotilla of pirogues, whose owners were still full of the most sincere attraction to relations of a commercial and economic nature. Nothing foreshadowed trouble. At the beginning of the first one, boats from ships arrived at the bay, which turned out to be far from being so comfortable for testing. De Langle and his companions saw in front of them a coral-filled bay with a small winding passage several meters wide. Here and there, rocks protruded from the shallow water, against which the waves beat.
The problem was that the commander of the Astrolabe made the opening of the aforementioned bay at high tide, at high tide. And at the moment it was low tide, and the cove was transformed into a much less attractive area. The depth did not exceed three feet, and the progress of the longboats was difficult - their bottoms touched the bottom. More or less freely felt a pair of boats, which were able to freely approach the shore.
Initially, de Langle wanted to immediately leave the harbor, which had become so uncomfortable, and collect water from the place where La Pérouse took it. However, the quite peaceful appearance of the natives standing on the shore returned his thoughts to the original plan. At first, everything went quite well: the barrels of water were loaded onto the launch boats that were actually grounded, and the French began to wait for the tide, which, according to calculations, should have begun no earlier than four o'clock.
The situation around began to gradually change. Some of the "salespeople" and other "sales agents", having finished trading, began to return from the Bussoli and Astrolabe. The number of spectators observing the activities of visitors grew rather quickly, and instead of the initial couple of hundred people, their number soon exceeded a thousand. The ring of natives, whose mood was changing from measured to more and more excited, began to shrink around the fussing on the shore of the French. They began to move towards the longboats perched on the shallows. The boats kept a little further from the shore.
De Langle, hoping to the last that the conflict could be avoided, restrained his people, forbidding them to fire even warning shots. The French eventually took their places in their craft, and the natives began to approach, already entering the water. It is possible they thought that the alien boats were jam-packed with all kinds of useful things and other treasures.
The natives got tired of playing the role of complacent spectators, and stones and other objects flew in the direction of the longboats and boats. The opportunity to be the first to open fire from falconets and muskets and thereby dispel the crowd was hopelessly missed, since de Langle, humane by nature, did not want to be the first to show aggression.
Death of de Langle.
A hail of stones thrown by strong and skillful hands fell on the French. The Astrolabe commander himself was knocked down, having managed to make only a couple of shots. Falling overboard into the coastal bank, de Langle was immediately stoned to death with stones and sticks. The French began to return fire, however, unorganized. In a short time the launches were taken by storm, and the few survivors rushed to swim to the boats dangling a little further from the shore.
The heated natives immediately began to rake the captured launches, looking for the treasures hidden in them. This distracted the attention of the inhabitants of the "cozy" bay from those who wanted to get to the boats. Fortunately, the commanders made the only correct decision: to throw barrels of water overboard in order to make room for people. Firing indiscriminately, which nevertheless caused considerable damage to the islanders, the boats, showered with stones, began to leave the bay.
In total, forty-nine out of sixty-one returned from the sortie for water. Many were injured. All the time, while blood was pouring in the bay, a lot of pies continued to spin around the ships, whose owners continued to trade as if nothing had happened. Upon learning of what had happened, La Pérouse ordered to drive off the natives with a blank shot from a cannon, although the team was determined to arrange something like a battle in Vigo Bay for the natives.
La Pérouse, having considered the situation from different angles, in the end abandoned any acts of revenge. The shallow depth did not allow to approach the shore at a distance of effective artillery fire, and without the support of the ship's guns, the landing of the landing party would be too risky. The islanders were at home, knew the area perfectly, and there were many of them. And any serious loss in people would have forced one of the frigates to burn down in order to return to France on the other, without fulfilling "all the required instructions."
The natives, meanwhile, having cooled down from the fight, suddenly again felt an inexorable attraction to commerce - pies filled with different animals again headed to the ships. La Pérouse gave the order to fire a sighting shot at them, which was done with the greatest care. The natives went home.
The excitement continued to intensify, and the ships were forced to leave the parking lot. It was decided to abandon the landing on the island, despite the sincere zeal of the entire personnel, to refuse - an additional argument against was the loss of two launches, the largest landing craft at the disposal of the expedition. The Bussoli had another large launch, but it was dismantled. Leaving the unburied bodies of their comrades on a foreign land, the expedition moved on.
On December 14, 1787, the Bussol and the Astrolabe headed for another island, the outlines of which could be discerned on the northwest.
Last months
Leaving astern the island of Maoun, unlucky for the expedition, the ships moved further along the Samoa archipelago. The land seen earlier was nothing more than the island of Oyolava, which was mapped by Bougainville during his trip around the world. Oyolava turned out to be the same picturesque place as the previous ones.
Bussol and Astrolabe were again surrounded by pirogue fleets. On them there were a large number of curious and willing to bargain natives. The French noted that they apparently did not know iron at all - they preferred beads, fabric and other trinkets to axes and nails. Now the natives were greeted with much less cordiality. The crew was still hungry for revenge, and some of the sailors felt that the crowd of Oyolava residents were the recent killers of their comrades. This was not surprising, since outwardly the inhabitants of these two islands practically did not differ in anything. With some difficulty, La Perouse managed to calm his people, convincing them not to shed blood.
Trade with the population went on in a measured sequence, but now the Europeans were tougher in cases when the natives tried to deceive them or steal something. At the slightest violation, the sailors no doubt used sticks. The natives, seeing such strictness, behaved completely within the framework and did not try to steal anything. However, in spite of all his philanthropy, La Perouse ordered to be ready for any surprises from the locals and, in case of emergency, to use force.
The next day, the pie around the ships became much smaller. Subsequently, the French guessed that the incident on Maoun had become widely known in the archipelago, and the natives, even absolutely innocent of what happened, feared revenge. When on December 17 the ships approached the island of Pola (now it is called Upolu), not a single pie came out to them. Paul was smaller than Oyolawa and just as handsome. A decent anchorage was found near it, but the crews of the ships were still in a rather agitated state, and La Pérouse feared that on the shore they would use weapons at the slightest provocation.
On December 23, the archipelago, which Bougainville designated as the Islands of the Navigators, was finally left behind. La Perouse's plans now included a visit to the Friendship Islands (now Tonga) and further to Australia. The general course of the expedition was gradually coming to an end, and not far off was the return to Europe, which, according to the plan, was to take place in the second half of 1788.
The crews continued to suffer from a shortage of fresh provisions, although the scurvy situation had so far been kept under control. The supply situation was eased for some time by the purchase of live pigs from the natives. However, due to their small size, it was inconvenient to salt them, and there was no food to keep the animals alive. Therefore, pork has become only a temporary remedy for improving the diet. As an antiscorbutic drug, the sailors continued to be given the so-called spruce beer - each received a bottle a day. In addition, half a pint of wine and a small amount of brandy diluted with water were given daily for the prevention of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and for the general tone.
On December 27, Vava'u Island was sighted, which was considered one of the largest in the Friendship Islands archipelago. La Perouse initially wanted to land on it, but bad weather, turning into a storm, prevented it. "Boussol" and "Astrolabe" moved further through the archipelago, maneuvering between the islands. December 31, the last day of the outgoing 1787, the outlines of the island of Tongatapu appeared. The weather has calmed down more or less.
On the island itself, the French noticed many huts and, apparently, cultivated fields. And soon the islanders themselves came aboard. It was noticeable that the locals were much less skillful with pirogy than the natives of the Seafarers' Islands. Their appearance was not so fierce, and, much to the satisfaction of the French, they conducted their trade quite honestly. By all indications, it was clear that these were farmers rather than warriors and other hunters for launches. The natives indicated by signs that the ships should come closer to the shore, since they could not bring much goods in their little pies. However, La Perouse did not want to drop anchor in this place. In addition, a rather strong wind blew out again, raising a wave.
On January 1 of the new year 1788, when it finally became clear that it would not be possible to replenish supplies in sufficient quantities for Tongatapu - the natives did not want to sail far from the coast, and the French did not want to come close to it, the commander of the expedition ordered to raise anchors and set a course for the Botanical Bay, located on coast of Australia. There, La Perouse hoped not only to replenish supplies, but also to give the crews a long rest.
New year 1788 greeted the ships with stormy weather. On January 13, Norfolk Island, located between Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia, was discovered. This piece of land in the vastness of the Pacific Ocean was discovered in 1774 by none other than James Cook. Norfolk Island was uninhabited, but La Perouse wanted to stop and land. Not least this decision was associated with the desire to enable the botanists and naturalists of the expedition to collect samples. After Kamchatka, these scientists rarely had the opportunity to fulfill their direct duties, and the last time, on the island of Maoun, they nearly cost the life of Martinier, one of the naturalists.
Then, while de Langle's companions were busy pouring water, Martinier retired inland and began to collect flowers for the herbarium. The natives who noticed him soon began to ask for a fee for violating the integrity of the flora of their island. From the naturalist who handed out all the souvenirs he had, they demanded a bead for each petal plucked. Martynier refused and then the natives completely lost some semblance of hospitality. In addition, the scientist heard noise and shots on the shore and ran to his comrades, pursued by a whole hail of stones. He managed to swim to the boat, while Martinier made sure that the bag with the collected samples did not get wet.
Of course, La Perouse could not deny the scientists the pleasure of being on land. On January 1, the French landed on Norfolk Island. It was covered with a forest mostly composed of pine trees. Naturalists had a place to roam, because besides trees, there were other plants in abundance.
When the boats from the island returned to the ships, the Astrolabe sent a signal that there was a fire on board. La Pérouse immediately sent a boat with sailors to help, but halfway there was a signal that the fire was extinguished. Subsequently, it turned out that the source of the fire was a chest in the cabin of Abbot Resever, who is also a chemist and mineralogist. Several bottles of reagents broke and ignited. The fire was extinguished - the chemical chest flew overboard.
In the evening of the same day, the anchor was raised, and the ships moved to the shores of Australia, or, as it was then called, New Holland. On January 17, a large number of birds were sighted, and on January 23, 1788, the sailors saw land. The wind remained nasty, and the entire day of January 24, the Bussol and the Astrolabe spent maneuvers and maneuvers at the entrance to the Botanical Bay.
First fleet.
To their delight, the French saw a large British squadron anchored there. It consisted of a mixture of military and transport ships. Sincerely believing that in such a remote land any European is a friend, comrade and brother to another European, La Perouse hoped to receive help from the British. Despite the fact that the ships in the bay fluttered the flags of St. George, which a few years ago they looked more diligently from the battery deck than from the quarterdecks, the French were sincerely delighted.
On January 25, there was a heavy fog, and the Bussol and Astrolabe could enter the Bay only on the 26th. Shortly after anchoring, British officers, a lieutenant and a midshipman boarded. They reported the following: the anchored ships and transports were the so-called First Fleet, which was sent here to colonize Australia. On board the transports were fifteen hundred colonists and a large number of a wide variety of supplies and materials. The general command of this squadron was held by Admiral Arthur Phillip, who had left Botanic Bay a few days earlier with a corvette and four transports in search of a better location in the Port Jackson area.
The British were very kind and polite, but they preferred to keep quiet about everything related to Phillip's mission, hinting at secrecy to La Perouse. However, the sailors from the English boat were much more talkative than their officers, and willingly told that they knew about all the local news. The officers were very helpful and offered La Perouse full cooperation. However, with sadness in their voice, they added that since everything on the ships is intended exclusively for the needs of the colonists, they will not be able to share with the French either food, canvas, or any other materials and resources.
La Pérouse was no less kind and tactfully noted that the French themselves would collect the fresh water and wood they needed. But enlightened seafarers would not have been like that if they had not added a slight piquancy to the conversation: if the travelers wish, then for a "moderate" fee, you can also look in the holds to see if anything else from Europe is lying around. The ship's treasury, after extensive purchases in the ports of "allied" Spain, was a deep shoal, and the simple-minded Russians, giving the first Frenchmen they met almost the last living bulls and supplying travelers with provisions out of a sense of duty, were then extremely rare in the Pacific Ocean.
La Perouse refused - the British bowed politely. Their ships had been in Botanical Bay for the last few days and were soon to go to Port Jackson Bay, where Admiral Phillip had already chosen a site for a new colony. Subsequently, the city of Sydney will grow there.
Relations between the officers and sailors of the two fleets were the warmest - visits followed visits. On the shore, the French set up a field camp, surrounded by a palisade to protect against a possible attack by the natives. Plants were immediately planted, the seeds of which were brought from Europe. For a long time, local residents called this site "the French garden".
Last letter
Even after the French were left alone in the gulf, communication between them and the British did not stop, since the distance to the new colony did not exceed ten miles. On February 5, along with the departing British ship, La Pérouse handed over a detailed diary of the expedition and a letter to the Minister of the Navy de Castries. In the latter, he briefly announced his future plans: to return to the Friendship Islands, explore the shores of Australia and New Guinea, and by the end of the year arrive on the French island of Ile-de-France in the Indian Ocean.
The last letter from La Perouse.
The British kept their promise, and all the papers of the French expedition were delivered to Europe. The Boussol and the Astrolabe were in the Botanical Bay until March 10, 1788. They weighed anchor and left. No more Europeans saw either La Perouse or his companions alive. However, the history of French ships and the famous navigator does not end there.
Author: Denis Brig
