Paul Mérault Monneron or de Monneron (23 February 1748, Annonay, Ardèche – May 1788,

Vanikoro Vanikoro (sometimes wrongly named ''Vanikolo'') is an island in the Santa Cruz group, located to the Southeast of the main Santa Cruz group. It is part of the Temotu Province of the Solomon Islands. The name ''Vanikoro'' is always used as thou ...

) was an engineer officer in the French armed forces and from 1785 to 1788 a member of Lapérouse's expedition.

Family

His eldest brother Charles Claude Ange Monneron was député to the

Estates General of 1789 The Estates General of 1789 was a general assembly representing the French estates of the realm: the clergy (First Estate), the nobility (Second Estate), and the commoners (Third Estate). It was the last of the Estates General of the Kingdom o ...

, for the Sénéchaussée of Annonay, his brothers Louis Monneron (1742–1805) and Pierre Antoine Monneron (1747–1801) were respectively députés of the National Constituent Assembly for the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

and

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It ...

. Another brother, Joseph François Augustin Monneron (1756–1826) was député for Paris at the Legislative Assembly and retired from it in 1792, before becoming Director General of the Caisse des Comptes Courants and going bankrupt in 1798.

Life

Entering the École du génie de Mézières and received as an engineer on 1 January 1770, he was first employed in France, at

Briançon Briançon (, ) is the sole subprefecture of the Hautes-Alpes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France. It is the highest city in France at an altitude of , based on the national definition as a community cont ...

then

Saint-Omer Saint-Omer (; vls, Sint-Omaars) is a commune and sub-prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department in France. It is west-northwest of Lille on the railway to Calais, and is located in the Artois province. The town is named after Saint Audoma ...

Participation in Lapérouse's expedition

Lapérouse proposed Monneron to Fleurieu as the expedition's chief engineer, for "such a character joined to knowledge is that which convened in him".

Moneron Island Moneron Island, (russian: Монерон, ja, 海馬島 Kaibato, ja, トド島 Todojima, Ainu: Todomoshiri) is a small island off Sakhalin Island. It is a part of the Russian Federation. Description Moneron has an area of about and a high ...

, discovered by the expedition west of Sakhalin Island, was named after him. He died in the shipwreck of the '' Astrolabe'' at

in 1788.

Notes

Sources

His genealogy on geneanet samlap

Bibliography

* ''L'expédition de Lapérouse 1785–1788 Réplique Française aux voyages de Cook'' – C.Gaziello Paris 1984

External links

Association Lapérouse France
{{DEFAULTSORT:Monneron, Paul Merault 1748 births 1788 deaths People from Annonay French engineers French explorers