The King Decided (1785) That A Voyage Should Be Undertaken; Two Ships
Of The Navy, LA BOUSSOLE And L'ASTROLABE, Were Selected For The
Purpose; And, On The Recommendation Of The Marquis De Castries - Remember
Madame La Marquise!
- Laperouse was chosen for the command.
All three of the men who ordered, planned and executed the voyage, the
King, the scholar, and the officer, were devoted students of the work
and writings of Cook; and copies of his VOYAGES, in French and English,
were placed in the library of navigation carried on board the ships for
the edification of the officers and crews. Over and over again in the
instructions prepared - several times on a page in some places - appear
references to what Cook had done, and to what Cook had left to be done;
showing that both King Louis and Fleurieu knew his voyages and
charts, not merely as casual readers, but intimately. As for Laperouse
himself, his admiration of Cook has already been mentioned; here it may
be added that when, before he sailed, Sir Joseph Banks presented him
with two magnetic needles that had been used by Cook, he wrote that he
"received them with feelings bordering almost upon religious veneration
for the memory of that great and incomparable navigator." So that, we
see, the extent of our great sailor's influence is not to be measured
even by his discoveries and the effect of his writings upon his own
countrymen. He radiated a magnetic force which penetrated far; down to
our own day it has by no means lost its stimulating energy.
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