[7] On 20 August 1771, Berryer arrived at the island, under Lieutenant Kerguelen, tasked with a mission of exploration to seek new territories South of Isle de France.

[8] Fortune and Gros Ventre started by surveying a new route to the Coromandel Coast discovered in 1767 by then-Ensign Grenier, of the corvette Heure du Berger.

On 18, both stopped searching for the other and, while Fortune returned to Isle de France under Kerguelen , Gros Ventre sailed under Saint Aloüarn to the 40th Southern parallel, where she arrived on 4 March, and on 17, she reached Cape Leeuwin.

[11] On 30, Gros Ventre found a spot where she could drop anchor and send a boat ashore, under Ensign Mengaud.

[11] Gros Ventre left Shark Bay on 8 April and sailed to Timor, following and surveying the Australian coast on the way.