“If my journal be published before my return, let the editing of it by no means be entrusted to a man of letters; for either he will sacrifice to the turn of a phrase the proper terms which the seaman and man of learning would prefer, but which to him will appear harsh and barbarous; or, rejecting all the nautical and astronomical details, and endeavouring to make a pleasing romance, he will for want of the knowledge his education has not allowed him to acquire, commit mistakes which may prove fatal to those who shall follow me.  But choose an editor versed in the mathematical sciences, who is capable of calculating and comparing my data with those of other investigators, of rectifying errors which may have escaped me, and of guarding himself against the commission of others.  Such an editor will preserve the substance of the work; will omit nothing that is essential; will give technical details the harsh and rude, but concise style of a seaman; and will well perform his task in supplying my place and publishing the work as I would have done it myself.”

That letter is a rather singular effect of Laperouse’s study of Cook, which might be illustrated by further examples.  The influence of the great English sailor is the more remarkable when we remember that there had been early French navigators to the South Seas before Laperouse.  There was the elder Bougainville, the discoverer of the Navigator Islands; there was Marion-Dufresne, who was killed and eaten by Maoris in 1772; there was Surville—­to mention only three.  Laperouse knew of them, and mentioned them.  But they had little to teach him.  In short and in truth, he belonged to the school of Cook, and that is an excellent reason why English and especially Australian people should have an especial regard for him.

The disastrous end of Laperouse’s expedition before he had completed his task prevented him from adequately realising his possibilities as a discoverer.  As pointed out in the preceding pages, if he had completed his voyage, he would in all probability have found the southern coasts of Australia in 1788.  But the work that he actually did is not without importance; and he unquestionably possessed the true spirit of the explorer.  When he entered upon this phase of his career he was a thoroughly experienced seaman.  He was widely read in voyaging literature, intellectually well endowed, alert-minded, eager, courageous, and vigorous.  The French nation has had no greater sailor than Laperouse.

De Lesseps, the companion of his voyage as far as Kamchatka, has left a brief but striking characterisation of him.  “He was,” says this witness, “an accomplished gentleman, perfectly urbane and full of wit, and possessed of those charming manners which pertained to the eighteenth century.  He was always agreeable in his relations with subordinates and officers alike.”  The same writer tells us that when Louis XVI gave him the command of the expedition he had the reputation of being the ablest seaman in the French navy.