Rare love letters to French aristocrat shed light on Louis XVI maritime mystery
Summary
Rare letters by scientist Jean-André Mongez, who joined Louis XVI’s 1785 expedition led by Jean-François de Galaup, the count of La Pérouse, have resurfaced in a book of engravings. Addressed to Louise Victoria Le Cloustier, a married woman from Normandy, they offer a personal glimpse of an expedition whose ships disappeared in 1788 and whose fate remains uncertain.Key Facts
- Mongez wrote the letters to Louise Victoria Le Cloustier, the married daughter of a minor aristocratic family from Rouen, Normandy.
- The letters were found hidden in a book of engravings being prepared for auction.
- Mongez was a scientist and church canon who joined the La Pérouse expedition and died in 1788.
- Louis XVI sent La Pérouse on a round-the-world scientific mission in 1785 amid rivalry with Britain over exploration and trade.
- The expedition’s ships, La Boussole and L’Astrolabe, left Botany Bay in March 1788 and were never heard from again.
- The ships are believed to have wrecked on coral reefs near Vanikoro, east of the Solomon Islands; their wrecks were formally identified in 2005.
- The expedition’s 225 crew members, officers and scientists sent reports from stops including Alaska, California, Asia, Russia and Samoa.
- La Pérouse reached Australia six days after Britain’s First Fleet, led by Captain Arthur Phillip.
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