Great Britain now stood pre-eminently distinguished, and was looked up to with gratitude by all civilised nations, for the bold and successful expeditions which she had fitted out in pursuit of geographical discoveries. As soon as the war, commencing in 1778, was brought to a close, in 1783, France, emulous of the glory of a rival nation, hastened to equip a squadron destined to solve those geographical difficulties which Cook had left Untouched. The officer chosen to command this expedition was Francis Galaup de la Perouse, an officer of great experience and talents, and who had shown himself particularly fitted to conduct an enterprise of this nature, by his skill in combating the difficulties which thwart navigation in Hudson's Bay, whither in the late war he had been despatched with a squadron to de stroy the British settlements. In this affair he had also displayed a generosity in his treatment of the unfortunate colonists, which won him the applause and esteem of the English nation.

The directions given to La Perouse for his voyage were remarkably luminous and instructive; but the plan was too comprehensive to fall within the capabilities of a single expedition. It aimed at little less than the filling up of every chasm, and dispelling every obscurity, that still remained in maritime geography. He was ordered, in his passage to Cape Horn, to examine the southern coasts of Sandwich Land and New Georgia, so as to complete the survey made of these desolate countries by captain Cook. He was then to run in a high latitude to the west, in search of Drake's Land.