The *Coquille* was a French naval corvette that circumnavigated the globe between 1822 and 1825 under Louis Isidore Duperrey — the first circumnavigation commanded by a French officer trained primarily as a hydrographer rather than a combat sailor. The expedition charted extensive stretches of the Pacific, including portions of the Gilbert Islands, the archipelago that would become Kiribati after independence in 1979. Kiribati has regularly commemorated Pacific exploration history in its silver program, producing small-mintage issues for the collector market throughout the 1990s.
The *Coquille* was a French naval corvette that circumnavigated the globe between 1822 and 1825 under Louis Isidore Duperrey — the first circumnavigation commanded by a French officer trained primarily as a hydrographer rather than a combat sailor. The expedition charted extensive stretches of the Pacific, including portions of the Gilbert Islands, the archipelago that would become Kiribati after independence in 1979. Kiribati has regularly commemorated Pacific exploration history in its silver program, producing small-mintage issues for the collector market throughout the 1990s.