Massacre Bay (American Samoa)

As of 1999, only one family remains in the area now known as A’asutuai (Old Town Aʻasu), while the rest of the community has relocated to A’asufou (New A’asu).

Sailing with two ships, L’Astrolabe and La Boussole ("the Compass"), Lapérouse reached the Samoan archipelago, then known as the Navigator Islands, in December 1787.

The expedition’s second-in-command, Paul Antoine Fleuriot de Langle, insisted on going ashore at Aʻasu to replenish fresh water supplies, despite La Pérouse’s objections about the islanders’ hostility.

A heated debate ensued, with de Langle emphasizing the crew’s urgent need to combat scurvy with fresh water.

[2][3] After several days of peaceful trade and interaction at Fagasā, tensions escalated when Commander De Langle led a landing party of 61 men to A‘asu to replenish water supplies.

There was one more death, on February 17, the chaplain, Father Louis Receveur, died, likely of a wound he had received at Massacre Bay two months prior.