Doug Collins

® get this straight @

MANY STARS of war and peace gleam modestly in the
byways of West Vancouver. So you never know who is
going to pop up in the famous watering hole with a stery
of the far places or a book. And now Russ Shelton has

done so,

Russ is a West Van
businessman who until now has
never let on that he was up to
something. Not to me, anyway.
It turns out, though, that he is a
writer and historian, proof’ of
which is in his newly published
book From Hudson Bay To
Botany Bay, subtitled The Lost
Frigates of Laperouse. \t is a
fascinating and well-written tale.

If you are like me, you have
never heard of Jean-Francois
Galaup, Comte de Laperouse.
That’s because history is what
our national egos make it. But
Laperouse was the French Cap-
tain Cook, and like Cook he ven-
tured into what was once ‘‘the
dark side of our planet,”’ as Russ
calls it, when to do so was more
dangerous than space travel is
today.

Cook beat Laperouse to our
West Coast and the great Pacific,
but the French aristocrat was hot
on his heels. This brave officer
also surveyed fresh coasts up in
Alaska, sailed into Betany Bay to
find the British ‘‘first fleet’?
there, exi:!ored unknown South
Sea areas, and touched China
and Japan. He was one of the

’ great navigators.

Cook was killed in Hawaii, but
his crew got back to tell the tale.
The Laperouse expedition was
less fortunate. It sailed out of

This week at counc

* WEST VANCOUVER DISTRICT

COUNCIL, Monday, Dec. 14, at.
1:45 p.m.: Policy/planning com- -

mittee re: Dundarave .and
Ambleside revitalizations/ 1987
citizens’ survey/ liquor Jicence ap-
plication Horseshoe’ Bay: Brewing
Co./ housing for seniors in need.
- Council: meeting. re: bylaws:
restrictive covenant, amending
, consolidated annual. budget, com-
: mercial vehicle licensing/- district
counci! appointments.
NORTH VANCOUVER
DISTRICT ‘COUNCIL, Monday,
Dec. 14, at 6:45 p.m.: Policy and
planning committee:
re: North Shore Museum and Ar-
chives Committee, trade agree-
ment, Roche Point eagie nesting
site/ zoning, development, com-
munity pian matters/ reports re:
helicopter flights and heliport
location, transit funding. Council
meeting 7:30 p.m.: bylaws: noise
reduction, waste removal. .
NORTH . VANCOUVER CITY
COUNCIL, Monday, Dec. i4, at
7:30) p.m.:

AUSTRALIAN
SHEEPSKIN
SEAT COVERS

ony S 6 9 95 seat

THE DOWN UNDER SHOP
(corner of Georgia & Denman)
: ETS

delegations . ,

Public meeting re: f

Botany Bay in 1788, never to be
seen again. Over 200 men were
lost and for 40 years the fate of
the ships was a mystery.

The Astrolabe, as one of them
was called, was found at
Vanikoro in the Santa Cruz
Islands by an Irish adventurer,
Peter Dillon, who became
famous as a result. But it was not
until 30 years ago that a dogged
New Zealander found the second,
La Boussole. Both had gone
down in a terrible storm.

This book is not only the story
of how the ships were found by
searchers ancient and modern. It
is also the story of South Seas
sociology and 18th Century
thought. For the late 1700s were
the Age of Enlightenment and
the myth of the ‘‘noble savage”’
uncorrupted by civilization.

Laperouse believed the myth
until he hit reality. ‘““We were
convinced that these islanders
were without doubt the happiest
beings on earth,”’ he wrote of his
first contact with the Samoans.
‘‘We were deceived. This
delightful country was not the
abode of innocence ....’”’

Margaret Mead perpetuated
the myth in our time until her
stuff was found to be utter
nonsense. She should have read
what Laperouse and the Irishman
had to say. Dillon provided

development proposal Lonsdale
Quay tower/ reports re: final
design proposal Mosquito Creek
Park/ B.C. Gaming Commission/

9 - Sunday. December 13, 1987 - North Shore News

FINANCIAL PROBLEMS???

Acquaint yourself with all the alternatives, in confidence.
Call for our free information booklet! today
“Follow-up interview without obligation"

EVANCIC PERRAULT ROBERTSON LTD.
TRUSTEE IN BANKRUPTCY

(604) 291-9151

Gust across the 2n Nartows bndge across tom Hientwood Mall
at Willingdon Ave & Lougheed Hwy)

PARK & FLY

50

54 per day

8311 Sea Island Way, Ricnmond BC.

(next to Segal Furniture)

Express Shuttle — 24 hrs., 7 days

500 CAI Bonus Points for 3 days parking
278-8311

graphic descriptions of the sav-
agery and cannibalism he en-
countered when looking for
Laperouse’s ships in the 1820s.

Trapped on a hill in Fiji by
decidedly un-noble savages, he
and his crew watched while cap-
tured men were cut up, stuffed
into ovens, and roasted.

“The dead bodies were placed
on the grass and dissected ... The
feet were cut off at the ankles,
and the legs from the knees:
afterwards the private parts, then
the thighs at the hip joints, the
hands at the wrists, the arms at
the elbows, the shoulders at the
sockets,””

But Laperouse towers over all
in a true tale that includes some
Canadian history as well as South
Pacific material. For it was this
French hero who in a surprise at-
tack captured Fort Prince of
Wales on Hudson Bay.

The fort is now a historic site.
The author’s father visited it in j
1962 and told his son about it,
thus sparking the interest in the
Laperouse saga that led Russ, a
transplanted Australian, to write
this book.

It wasn’t easy. He took a writ- |
ing course at Capilano College,
was told he had some talent, and
began serious research. Now |
nearing retirement, he hopes to
write other books. Let’s hope he
does, because there is nothing }
amateur about this one and it is a
darned good read. ;

(From Hudson to Botany Bay:
The Lost Frigates of Laperouse.
By Russell C. Shelton; NC Press;
524. 93)

AIRPORT PARKING

municipal . planning giant/ strata. : '
conversion policy/ public works”

mutual aid argreement —
emergency plan. - .

WHISTLER FAIRWAYS
GRAND OPENING SPECIAL }

Dinner % fF | 2 (4 eee

Dance

RESERVE NOW!
FOR A GALA
NEW YEAR’S

EVE

PER PERSON — =

. PER DAY BASED ON
DOUBLE OCCUPANCY
(3 DAY MINIMUM)
DEC. 18 to 24, 1987
or JAN. 4 to 14, 1988

" DIRECT PHONE BOOKINGS ONLY
ON AVAILABILITY BASIS ©

* 2 Ballrooms * 2 Orchestras

* Deluxe Smorgasbord
of the Year

* Hats, Noisemakers
* Streamers
* Door Prizes

ONLY
$50.00 per person

OPEN FOR XMAS’
DEC. 18, 1987

MAKE UP YOUR PARTY NOW!

Reservations for Christmas
and New Year's Day ac-
cepted now.

AND PHONE. .
FOR PER EIOL AT.

Enjoy Holiday Dinners at the
Canyon. Club. Open all

season 7 nights a week. NEW 200 room, fullservice: hotel in the Village Centre,’

adgcent to Amold Palmer designed golf course. ;
Amenities indude pool with jacuzzi, sauna, gyn, in-room
mini-lnars and movies, ample underground parking, and more:

Toll Free (604) 683-5711

Countesy to Agents

ests en