La Glorieuse stopped in at Sydney Harbour this week. In a long and proud tradition of sailors of the French Navy the commander and crew visited La Perouse on Saturday 14th February and laid a wreath and presented a plaque at the Laperouse Monument. Commander Lt Deleplanque spoke enthusiastically about the occasion:

First of all I would like to say that this is a great pleasure for us to stand here in Botany Bay with you today.

I would like to thank all of you for being here today, and particularly those who made this ceremony possible, the Randwick council and the mayor Ted Seng, Bill Land and the friends of Laperouse Museum, the French Brigade, and M. Eric Berti, the general consul of France. Thank you again to welcome us here.

As sailors, we have heard the name of Lapérouse quite often. This name recalls the attraction for the sea and the taste of adventure!

For me, I have heard for the first time the name of Botany Bay several years ago, before joining the Navy, when I was reading the epic adventures of la Boussole and L’Astrolabe, I was fascinated by this extraordinary trip on the seas, so it’s a particular occasion for me to be here today.

I’m very happy and impressed to see that the name of Laperouse is well-known here, and that you are many to commemorate this event of the French but also Australian maritime history. This is our duty, sailors and admirers, to pass on the story of Lapérouse across the years and make sure the next generations still get inspired by such a man.

La Glorieuse is a patrol vessel of the type P400 intended for economic zone protection tasks and based in Noumea. Built in Cherbourg and commissioned in 1987, it conducts protection missions eg embargo control, sovereign action, and public service missions eg. sea rescue, police navigation, fisheries protection, assistance to remote areas, inter-island transport, pollution control.