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In 1767 de Surville set sail in his ship, the 'St Jean Baptiste' to India to trade between the French settlements in India and China. In 1768, while in India, de Surville heard rumours the British had discovered a fabulously wealthy island in the South Pacific, and decided to try to find this island.
During the voyage numbers of sick and dying crewmembers forced de Surville to find a safe anchorage. De Surville followed Tasman's charts, and headed for New Zealand. On 12th December 1769, the 'St Jean Baptiste' sighted the coastline of New Zealand, soon passing James Cook's Endeavour, with neither ship sighting the other due to the bad weather. Surprisingly, both de Surville and Cook were navigating New Zealand waters at the same time, the only Europeans to do so since Abel Tasman, a century earlier.
Later while at anchor, more bad weather damaged the ship. De Surville was forced to make substantial repairs. He ran foul of local Maori, and was forced to flee, kidnapping one of the chiefs, Ranginui.
The 'St Jean Baptiste' continued east across the Pacific, and sufferred further loss of crew through scurvy. De Surville drowned in heavy seas off the Peru coast, in April 1770.