Cyrille Pierre Théodore Laplace
Cyrille Pierre Théodore Laplace (7 November 1793 – 24 January 1875) was a French navigator famous for his circumnavigation of the globe on board La Favorite.
He was pivotal in the opening of French trade in the Pacific and was instrumental in the establishment of the Hawaiian Catholic Church.
[3] Voyages such as that of Jules Dumont d'Urville in the 1820s had already collected vast amounts of knowledge of the area, and the French government were hoping to secure its economic opportunities.
[4] The original route planned was designed to complement that of Hyacinthe de Bougainville, re-establishing French influence on the Indo-China area.
The ship then made its way south, crossing the Equator on 4 February, and sighting the Cape of Good Hope on 6 March.
[4] Being forced to skip the scheduled stop in Cape Town due to poor weather, Laplace attempted to continue on to Île Bourbon.
[4] The hurricane reached Bourbon on 1 April, ravaging the island, and was closely followed by another, forcing Laplace to hurriedly set sail for Mauritius.
[4] Upon returning to St. Denis, a shark killed one of his crew members who was attempting to desert, and Laplace was unable to recover an anchor he had lost near the island.
Six days later the crew had made their way past the Maldives and Ceylon (now known as Sri Lanka), before making landfall at Pondicherry on 9 June.
[7] After travelling via Macao, Laplace arrived in Canton (today Guangzhou), with the intent of discussing the difficulties of French traders with the Chinese authorities.
It was suspected that La Favorite had a large army concealed in the hold, and Chinese soldiers were brought into the city to oversee Laplace's actions.
[8] Laplace left the area in frustration of Emperor Minh Mạng's isolationist policies, the diplomatic mission having failed.
These observations were taken to be an attempt to claim New Zealand for France, causing excitement in Sydney and even led to the British Government requesting clarification from the French.
