• Title : Carte Du Grand Ocean ou Mer du Sud Dressee pour la Relation du Voyage de Decouvertes faites par les Fregates Francaises la Boussole et l Astrolabe dans les Annees 1785, 86, 87 et 88
• Size: 29 1/2in x 23in (750mm x 585mm)
• Ref #:  82004
• Date : 1797
• Condition: (A+) Fine Condition

Description:
This large original, antique & important map of Australia, America and The Pacific illustrating the exploration of Jean-Francois de Galaup, Comte de La Perouse, after Captain Cook, was engraved by the famous French engraver Pierre Tardieu and was published after La Perouse, in Paris, 1797.

In 1783 the French government appointed La Perouse in command of an expedition to the Pacific to complete Captain James Cook\'s unfinished work, and in particular to explore the passages in the Bering Sea, which had been a mystery to Europeans since the 16th century. In command of two ships, La Boussole and L Astrolabe he made for Brazil on the 1st of August 1785. Rounding Cape Horn he refitted in Chile, then sailed to the Hawaiian Islands (Sandwich Islands) and onto Alaska, where he turned south exploring and surveying the NW coast as far as California. After a short refit at Monterey California, he sailed across the Pacific, discovered many uncharted islands, and visited Macao and Manila.
After six weeks re provisioning, he left on 10 April 1787 to survey the coasts and territories north of Korea, which had been described by Christian missionaries. He sailed up the Gulf of Tartary, naming several points on both its shores and learned that Sakhalin was an island. In September he put in to Kamchatka to replenish his supplies. From there he turned south making for Australia (New Holland). In December, at Tutuila, Samoa, which Bougainville had called the Navigator Islands when he explored them in 1768, natives suddenly attacked a party from L Astrolabe, seeking water. La Perouse left without taking reprisals and sailed through the Pacific Islands to Norfolk Island and to Botany Bay. He was sighted off the coast there on 24 January 1788 but bad weather prevented his entering the bay for two days. La Perouse established a camp at Botany Bay on the northern shore, now named after him. After his six-week stay he sailed on 10 March and was not heard of again.

General Definitions:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color : - off white
Age of map color: -
Colors used: -
General color appearance: -
Paper size: - 29 1/2in x 23in (750mm x 585mm)
Plate size: - 29 1/2in x 23in (750mm x 585mm)
Margins: - Min 1in (25mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - None
Plate area: - None
Verso: - None

Background: 
The map highlights La Perouse\'s Voyage from France, around Cape Horn, then to Hawaii and the Northwest Coast of America, south to Oregon, San Francisco and Monterey, then across the Pacific Ocean to Canton, through the Philippines to the Sea of Japan and the Northern Japanese Islands, then to Kamchatka.
From Kamchatka, La Perouse proceeded to the South Pacific and finally to Port Jackson and Botany Bay, where he met his untimely death. The map displays the most up to date cartography, especially along the Northwest Coast of America, Northeast Coast of Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific.
La Perouse arrived in Botany Bay in 1788, where he was welcomed by the British and stayed six weeks, during which time he arranged for his records to be sent back to Europe. He then set sail, saying he would be back in Paris by June 1789, but none of his crew were ever seen again. In 1826 evidence of the fate of the expedition was found on Vanikoro in the Santa Cruz group of islands. In 2005, it was proved the Boussole and Astrolabe had hit the reefs there and sank.
La Perouse\'s voyage is perhaps second only to the Voyages of James Cook for its impact on cartographic knowledge and discoveries in the Pacific during the second half of the 18th Century.

• Title : Carte D Une Partie Du Grand Ocean a l E. et S.E. de la Nouvelle Guinee pour l intelligence du Voyage de la Fregate Espagnole la Princesa commandee par D. Franco. Antonio Maurelle. en 1781..... Published as the (act) directs Novr. 1st 1798, by G.G. & J. Robinson
• Ref #:  31555
• Size: 16 3/4in x 11in (425mm x 280mm)
• Date : 1798
• Condition: (A+) Fine Condition

Description:
This large original copper plate engraved antique early map of Queensland, New Guinea, Fiji, French Polynesia & other South Pacific Islands - tracking the voyages of Francisco Antonio Mourelle in the region in 1781 was engraved in 1798 - dated - and was published in the 1st English edition of the Atlas du voyage de La Perouse G.G & J. Robinson, London in 1799.
La Perouse set sail from France in 1785 to continue the discoveries of Captain Cook. He was shipwrecked in 1788 but his narrative, maps, and views survived and were first published in 1797.

Interesting chart of Eastern Australia and part of the south-western Pacific, showing the routes taken by the Spanish explorer Don Francisco Antonio Maurelle in 1781 along the northern coast of New Guinea and across the Pacific to Fiji and Tonga, including a maunscript grid added in a contemporary hand.
Maurelle was credited with the discovery of the Hermit Islands on this voyage. The map includes the north-eastern coast of Australia, and parts of the coast of New Guinea. The map shows the 1781 route of his ship The Princesa through the Bismarck Archipelago north of New Guinea, through the Archipel de Salomos [i.e. Solomon Islands] and then east across the Pacific to the Iles de Amis [i.e. the Friendly Islands, now Tonga] where he discovered I. Vavao [ i.e. Vavau] with one of the best anchorages in the South Pacific.
The map includes the Iles de Navigateurs [i.e. Samoa], I. Fidji [i.e. Fiji], Iles de Esprit [i.e. Vanuatu or the New Hebrides Isles], and Nouvelle Caledonie [i.e. New Caledonia]. Many small islands are depicted with notes regarding their sightings by Abel Tasman, William Bligh and Maurelle.
A note on the chart states that the publisher has placed the islands according to the longitude of other navigators, rather than on Maurelles figures which were considered estimates only, and also, that Maurelles chart was based on a French chart by Jacques Nicolas Bellin published in 1742.

General Definitions:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color : - off white
Age of map color: - Early
Colors used: - Yellow
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 16 3/4in x 11in (425mm x 280mm)
Plate size: - 16in x 10in (405mm x 255mm)
Margins: - Min 1/2in (12mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - Light age toning in margins
Plate area: - None
Verso: - None

Background: 
Mourelle de la Rúa, Francisco Antonio 1750 – 1820
Mourelle was a Galician naval officer and explorer serving the Spanish crown. He was born in 1750 at San Adrián de Corme (Corme Aldea, Ponteceso), near La Coruña, Galicia
1775 voyage Mourelle served the Spanish navy in the Guyanas, Trinidad, and the Antilles before becoming stationed at New Spain\'s Pacific Ocean naval base at San Blas, Mexico in 1774. He joined the 1775 expedition of Bruno de Heceta and Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, serving as Quadra\'s pilot on the schooner Sonora. On July 29, at around 49 degrees north latitude, the Sonora became separated from Heceta\'s ship Santiago. Heceta soon returned south while Quadra and Mourelle continued north, eventually reaching 58 degrees 30 minutes north latitude. They found and anchored in Bucareli Bay. Then they sailed south, arriving at Monterey, California, on October 7, and San Blas on November 20, 1775.
Mourelle\'s journal was somehow taken clandestinely to London where it was translated and published. Captain James Cook made use of the information in Mourelle\'s journal during his travels in the Pacific Northwest.
1779 voyage Mourelle again served as the pilot of Quadra, and second in command of the ship Favorita, during the 1779 expedition commanded by Ignacio de Arteaga. Leaving San Blas on February 11, 1779, the expedition reached 61 degrees north and Hinchinbrook Island at the head of the Gulf of Alaska. From there they sailed southwest along the Kenai Peninsula. The ships returned to San Blas on November 21, 1779.
Later career During his service at San Blas, Mourelle traveled extensively throughout the Pacific Ocean. From 1781 on the La Princessa, he attempted to find a southern route from the Philippines to Mexico, mapping 29 of the 50 islands in the Hermit Islands, Ninigo Islands and Tench Island in New Guinea, and Ontong Java in the Solomon Islands . He visited Tonga and travelled through the Ellice Islands (now Tuvalu). Keith S. Chambers and Doug Munro (1980) identify Niutao as the island that Mourelle named on May 5, 1781, thus solving what Europeans had called The Mystery of Gran Cocal. Due to contrary winds, he returned via Guam and took the northern route across the Pacific to Mexico. He was also familiar with the Philippines and Canton, China.
Mourelle was to command the Mexicana for a 1792 voyage to explore the Strait of Georgia but Alessandro Malaspina had one of his own officers, Cayetano Valdés, placed in command of the Mexicana. Dionisio Alcalá Galiano commanded the Sutil, the twin companion of the Mexicana.
Mourelle was transferred to Spain in 1793. He was promoted to frigate captain in the same year as the Action of 19 January 1799 where he took a leading role. He became ship\'s captain in 1806, and commodore in 1811. He commanded a squadron in 1818 that was to put down a rebellion in the Rio de la Plata, but the endeavor never got underway. Mourelle died on May 24, 1820, at the age of 64.