René Duguay-Trouin
René Duguay-Trouin (born June 10, 1673 in Saint-Malo , † September 27, 1736 in Paris ) was a French privateer and naval officer.
Life
Duguay-Trouin was the son of a wealthy shipowner and became a seaman on a merchant ship in 1689 . In December 1690 he joined Captain Legoux on the Trinité , a privateer ship . In the ensuing conquest of a British ship, the Seven Stars of Scotland , he showed such leadership skills that he was given command of his first ship, the Danycan , at the age of 18 . On June 6, 1692 he became the commander of the 40-gun frigate Hercule . With it he distinguished himself in the Palatine War of Succession against England and Holland , when he not only conquered merchants, but also warships , for example two ships of the line in the English Channel in 1693 .
On April 12, 1694 he got with his ship, the Diligente , while escorting a convoy off the Dutch coast in a fight with an English squadron of six ships under Admiral David Mitchell. His ship was badly shot down and lost most of its crew. Duguay-Trouin was wounded and had to remove the flag. He was taken to Plymouth as a prisoner. Since he had raised the British flag as a deceit during an attack on the Prince of Orange, the British imprisoned him in an iron cell. However, through the love of a young English woman, he managed to escape. He fled Plymouth on a small boat which he bought from the captain friend of a Swedish ship lying in the harbor and with which he sailed as far as Brittany. With him his lieutenant, his ship's doctor and his helmsman escaped. Because of his merits, he was appointed frigate captain of the royal navy in 1697 .
In 1703, in thick fog, he got into a Dutch squadron of 15 warships with two ships of the line and three frigates and could only escape by apparently accepting the fight. On the south coast of Spitsbergen plundered and burned more than 30 whale rider . In 1704 he again took a frigate and twelve merchant ships away from the English, for which King Louis XIV appointed him Knight of the Ordre royal et militaire de Saint-Louis . An attack on a large fleet from Brazil loaded with grain and ammunition, which he attempted with three ships in the roadstead of Lisbon in 1706 , failed after a two-day battle.
In 1707 he captured 60 transport ships that were supposed to bring food and weapons from England to Archduke Charles of Austria , rival Philip V of Spain , and the four large warships accompanying them.
The fortress works of Rio de Janeiro , considered to be insurmountable , took its small fleet in September 1711 after an 11-day battle; in the battle of Rio de Janeiro he captured 60 merchant ships, three ships of the line and two frigates and a contribution of 610,000 Crusados.
Knighted for this, he was appointed squadron commander in 1715 and admiral (French: Lieutenant-Général des armées navales du roi ) in 1715 and appointed to the Council of State by the Duke of Orléans . In 1731 Louis XV sent him . against the barbarian states in order to maintain the reputation of the French naval power there . The last French bombing of Tripoli in 1728 had no long-lasting effect.
Honors
The French Navy named at least nine of its warships after him since 1781: four ships of the line, three cruisers, a frigate and the last (planned) nuclear submarine of the Barracuda class .
plant
- His "Mémoires" were published by Beauchamps ( Paris 1740, 4 vols .; Amsterdam 1748; engl., London 1742)
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Duguay-Trouin, René |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French naval hero |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 10, 1673 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Saint Malo |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 27, 1736 |
| Place of death | Paris |