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

Miracle' cache of letters written by French scientist who died in ill-fated La Perouse mission give personal account of 1785 voyage

As he prepared to climb the scaffolding to be publicly executed by guillotine on 21 January 1793, Louis XVI is reported to have asked: Is there news of Monsieur de la Perouse?"

He was referring to Jean-Francois de Galaup, the count of Perouse, a naval officer and navigator whom the French king had dispatched in 1785 on a round-the-world scientific mission to rival discoveries made by the English explorer Captain James Cook.