While Collignon and his shipmates perished in a wreck near Vanikoro, some of his collection had previously been shipped back to France during a stop at the Portuguese-held Macao, including the seeds of Abronia umbellata.
On reaching Tikopia, a Polynesian outlier of the Solomons, three of the survivors, Martin Buchert, his Fijian wife and Lascar Joe were landed and the ships sailed to Sydney, passing the island of Vanikoro.
Missions to discover its fate determined that the expedition's ships were sunk at Vanikoro, to the north of New Guinea, probably in March 1788.
Paul Mérault Monneron or de Monneron (23 February 1748, Annonay, Ardèche – May 1788, Vanikoro) was an engineer officer in the French armed forces and from 1785 to 1788 a member of Lapérouse's expedition.
Vanikoro |