"La Coquille" corvette of 380 tons, launched in 1811, used to transport horses before being used to draw the maps of the Mediterranean and Black Sea. In 1825 it was renamed "The Astrolbe" in memory of the great French navigator La Pérouse.
Thereafter its history was linked to that of his commanding officer Captain DUMONT DURVILLE Varnikoro who discovered the place where the vessel of LAPEROUSE had sunk.
During a trip to Tierra del Fuego, DUMONT DURVILLE discovered on 7 September 1837 a country in Antarctica that he named Adelie Land "in honor of his wife.