La Perouse in the Far East, 1787. 1864 illustration of the French sailor and explorer Jean Francois de Galaup, comte de La Perouse (1741-c.1788), during an expedition to the Far East in 1787. La Perouse was an officer of the French Navy who, in April 1786, was the first European to set foot on the Hawaiian island of Maui. He disappeared in the Solomon islands in early 1788 and was presumed dead. It was not until 1826 that evidence revealed La Perouse's ship had been wrecked on the coral reefs surrounding these islands. Many local landmarks on Maui are named after him in his honour.