Nicolas baudin french explorers puzzle

Introduction
In the 18th. century, there are exotic French names such as Nicolas Baudin, Jean-Francois de Galaup Compte de La Perouse, Antoine Raymond Joseph de Brimi D'Entrecasteaux, and Louis Bougainville, names that one would expect to find gracing elegant Parisian salons, rather than exploring the distant shores of Australia, and the vast expanses of the Pacific Ocean.

But no, these early French explorers and their small ships were out pushing back the frontiers of exploration, seeking out new territory to chart and claim for France, to expand her colonial empire.

The Island of Mauritius
Mauritius stands alone, isolated in the Indian Ocean, about 2,400 kilometers south east of the African coast, it covers about 1,865 square kilometers, or 720 square miles, and in generally surrounded by coral reefs except for its southern section.

It is interesting that this island became a common thread woven into the lives of several of the early French explo