Aristide Aubert Dupetit-Thouars

Aristide Dupetit-Thouars

Aristide Aubert Dupetit-Thouars (born August 31, 1760 near Saumur , France , † August 1, 1798 off the coast of Abukir in what is now Egypt ) was a French admiral and navigator .

Live and act

Dupetit-Thouar's naval career began in 1778, he took part in the battle of Ouessant , after which he cruised mainly in the Caribbean off Martinique and was involved in the conquest of Grenada and the subsequent naval battle of Grenada .

In 1786 he was a member of a hydrographic expedition that explored the Ionian Islands , the Aegean Sea and the Marmara Sea . Dupetit-Thouars finally received his first command of his own in 1792. In the same year he used all of his private fortune to finance a search for the French circumnavigator and explorer La Pérouse . The mission of which he was in command failed and Dupetit-Thouars was arrested by Portugal on a stopover in Brazil and went to the USA after his release .

In 1796 he returned to France, rejoined the navy and was first in command of the Franklin , later the tonnant . On the latter ship he accompanied the French expedition army under General Napoléon Bonaparte to Egypt in 1798 with Admiral Bruey's fleet (→ Egyptian expedition ). On August 1, 1798, off the Egyptian coast, the sea ​​battle at Abukir broke out when an English squadron under Admiral Nelson surprised and devastated the French fleet at anchor.

Dupetit-Thouars himself was badly wounded in this sea battle, but he refused to give up his command. The bleeding man had himself put in a barrel of bran in order to be able to resist as long as possible. His last order was to nail the French flag to the mast - to prevent his crew from surrendering after his death. These measures made Dupetit-Thouars world famous and a French national hero , but he could not prevent the defeat of his fleet. On August 1st, Dupetit-Thouars died of serious injuries while on board the Tonnant.

literature

• David G. Chandler : The campaigns of Napoleon . Weidenfeld, London 1993, ISBN 0-297-81367-6 (unaltered reprint. London 1966).
• Joseph Hennequin et al. a .: Biography maritime ou notices historiques sur la vie et les campagnes des marins célèbres français et étrangers . Regnault, Paris 1835/37 (2 vol.)