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It runs between Yezo, the large northerly island of Japan, and Saghalien. Current maps also show the name Boussole Strait, after Laperouse's ship, between Urup and Simusir, two of the Kurile chain of small islands curving from Yezo to the thumblike extremity of Kamchatka.
In the course of the day the officer returned, and brought intelligence that the ships were the Boussole and Astrolabe, sent out by order of the King of France, and under the command of Monsieur De Perrouse.
This too had its history, encircled as it is with a complete reef of coral, in some parts double. In the year 1785, two French vessels, which were commanded by Count La Perouse, and named 'La Boussole' and 'L'Astrolabe, had set forth from Brest on a voyage of discovery in the Pacific.
Show it him first, and, when he commends it, as probably he will, tell him that it is at his service, 'et que comme il est toujours par vole et par chemins, il est absolument necessaire qu'il ale une boussole'. All those little gallantries depend entirely upon the manner of doing them; as, in truth, what does not?
The complete history of the voyage was narrated to him, including of course the tragic story of the massacre of de Langle and his companions. After dinner on the BOUSSOLE, King was taken ashore, where he found the French "quite established, having thrown round their tents a stockade, guarded by two small guns."
By order of the French government, Mess. de la Perouse and de Langle sailed from Brest, in August, 1785, in the frigates Boussole and Astroloobe, on an enterprise, the express purpose of which was the improvement of geography, astronomy, natural history, and philosophy, and to collect accounts of customs and manners.
"To explore the north-west and south-west coasts of Japan," says Kruzenstern, "to ascertain the situation of the Straits of Sangar, the width of which in the best charts Arrowsmith's 'South Sea Pilot' for instance, and the atlas subjoined to La Pérouse's Voyage is laid down as more than a hundred miles, while the Japanese merely estimated it to be a Dutch mile; to examine the west coast of Yezo; to find out the island of Karafuto, which in some new charts, compiled after a Japanese one, is placed between Yezo and Sachalin, and the existence of which appeared to me very probable; to explore this new strait and take an accurate plan of the island of Sachalin, from Cape Crillon to the north-west coast, from whence, if a good harbour were to be found there, I could send out my long boat to examine the supposed passage which divides Tartary from Sachalin; and, finally, to attempt a return through a new passage between the Kuriles, north of the Canal de la Boussole; all this came into my plan, and I have had the good fortune to execute part of it."
The Captain came up to me, put his finger on one spot on the chart, and said this single word. "Vanikoro." The effect was magical! It was the name of the islands on which La Perouse had been lost! I rose suddenly. "The Nautilus has brought us to Vanikoro?" I asked. "Yes, Professor," said the Captain. "And I can visit the celebrated islands where the Boussole and the Astrolabe struck?"
The BOUSSOLE and the ASTROLABE sailed from Botany Bay on March 10, 1788. After recording that fact we might well inscribe the pathetic last words of Hamlet, "the rest is silence." We know what Laperouse intended to do. He wrote two letters to friends in France, explaining the programme to be followed after sailing from Botany Bay.
Then his vessels struck on the unknown reefs of Vanikoro. The Boussole, which went first, ran aground on the southerly coast. The Astrolabe went to its help, and ran aground too. The first vessel was destroyed almost immediately. The second, stranded under the wind, resisted some days. The natives made the castaways welcome.
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