Rare love letters to French aristocrat shed light on Louis XVI maritime mystery

Key Points:

• Louis XVI reportedly inquired about the fate of explorer Jean-François de Galaup, count of Pérouse, before his execution in 1793; Pérouse had been sent on a scientific mission in 1785 that ended mysteriously after his ships disappeared near Australia in 1788.
• Newly discovered personal letters from Jean-André Mongez, a scientist on the Pérouse expedition, reveal intimate and emotional reflections, including veiled love letters to a married noblewoman, offering a rare personal perspective on the voyage.
• The expedition was part of France's strategic efforts to rival British colonial expansion and scientific discovery, but Pérouse's ships were lost after encountering a tornado near Vanikoro, with wreckage only identified in 2005.
• Mongez's letters describe hardships faced during the journey, including the death of crew members and his own desire to return home, suggesting the expedition was as much a personal quest for redemption as a scientific mission.
• The letters, hidden for over two centuries and recently found in a 19th-century book of engravings, shed new light on one of France's significant maritime and historical events, highlighting the human stories behind the famed expedition.