At Kamchatka, Lapérouse received orders to investigate the British settlement that was to be established at Botany Bay and at this point Jean-Baptiste Barthélemy de Lesseps left the expedition to carry journals and letters back to France.

Lesseps arrived in St. Petersburg on the 22nd September 1788, after a journey that took almost a year to complete.

The monument to Laperouse is located in the center of the long stretched city and is quite popular among visitors. In 2006, when the French frigate Vendemiaire visited the city the French ambassador attended a wreath laying ceremony along with Jaques Bodin who was representing the Albi.

There is also the grave of a French purser, Jean-Marie KERMEL, who killed himself at that spot on 7 September 1787, due to mishandling a firearm during the stay, but no one knows where the grave is situated.