Jean François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse (23 August 1741–1788) was a French Navy officer and explorer whose expedition vanished in Oceania. In 1757 he was posted to the Célèbre and participated in a supply expedition to Louisbourg in New France. He was in a second supply expedition in 1758 to that besieged fortress that was forced to make a circuitous route around Newfoundland to avoid British patrols.