Antoine Groignard (4 February 1727 – 26 July 1799), was a French naval constructor who developed standard designs for French war ships, and built and improved the

dry docks A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...

at the French naval bases in

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...

and

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Family

Groignard was son of a

master mariner A master mariner is a licensed mariner who holds the highest grade of seafarer qualification; namely, an unlimited master's license. Such a license is labelled ''unlimited'' because it has no limits on the tonnage, power, or geographic location of ...

, admiralty pilot,

hydrographer Hydrography is the branch of applied sciences which deals with the measurement and description of the physical features of oceans, seas, coastal areas, lakes and rivers, as well as with the prediction of their change over time, for the primary p ...

and

shipowner A ship-owner is the owner of a merchant vessel (commercial ship) and is involved in the shipping industry. In the commercial sense of the term, a shipowner is someone who equips and exploits a ship, usually for delivering cargo at a certain frei ...

. In 1767 he married Marie Élisabeth Catherine Boucher de la Boucherie, a daughter of a captain of troops in the service of the French East India Company. The couple had a son and a daughter; the son becoming a

frigate captain Frigate captain is a naval rank in the naval forces of several countries. Corvette captain lies one level below frigate captain. It is usually equivalent to the Commonwealth/US Navy rank of commander. Countries using this rank include Argentina ...

in the French navy.

Career

Groignard became a student at the shipbuilding school in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

(one of the predecessors of today's

ENSTA ParisTech The ENSTA Paris, officially École nationale supérieure de techniques avancées ( en, Superior National School of Advanced Techniques) is a prestigious French graduate school of engineering ("''école d'ingénieurs''"). Founded in 1741, it is th ...

). Appointed assistant

naval constructor Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to befo ...

in 1747 and at

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1749, he was promoted to naval constructor in 1754. Attached to the

French East India Company The French East India Company (french: Compagnie française pour le commerce des Indes orientales) was a colonial commercial enterprise, founded on 1 September 1664 to compete with the English (later British) and Dutch trading companies in the ...

Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town (''Communes of France, commune'') and Port, seaport in the Morbihan Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in western France. History Prehistory and classical antiquity Beginn ...

, he designed ships suitable for combat and commerce; among them the ''Duc de Duras'' that later became the famous American frigate ''Bon Homme Richard''. During the Seven Years' War, he distinguished himself in defending

Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very cl ...

against the British floating batteries. As an adviser to the minister of marine, he standardized the design of ships at the several naval dockyards of France. Promoted to chief constructor in 1769, he was put in charge of building the docks of

, solving the difficult technical problems involved. In 1782 Groignard was promoted to constructor general with the rank of

post-captain Post-captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of Captain (Royal Navy), captain in the Royal Navy. The term served to distinguish those who were captains by rank from: * Officers in command of a naval vessel, who were (and still are) ...

, working on the docks at

putting them in condition to receive the largest ships of the Navy. He notably directed the construction of ''Bretagne''.Demerliac, ''1774—1792'', n°1, p. 15 He retired due to sickness in 1790. He was recalled to duty in 1792 and was in charge of the construction of

Port-de-Bouc Port-de-Bouc (; oc, Lo Pòrt de Boc) is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in southern France. Population See also *Communes of the Bouches-du-Rhône department The following is a list of the 119 communes of the Bouches-du- ...

from 1792 to 1795, and a project for draining the salt marshes of the

Marignane Marignane (; oc, Marinhana) is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southern France. Geography It is a component of the Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropolis, and the largest suburb of the cit ...

in Saint-Miter from 1793 to 1794. Groignard was in charge of the naval administration of Toulon in preparation for the

French campaign in Egypt and Syria The French campaign in Egypt and Syria (1798–1801) was Napoleon Bonaparte's campaign in the Ottoman territories of Egypt and Syria, proclaimed to defend French trade interests, to establish scientific enterprise in the region. It was the ...

."Antoine Groignard." ''Site officiel de la mairie de Solliès-Pont.''
Retrieved 2017-03-26."Antoine Groignard." ''L'Académie de marine.''
Retrieved 2017-03-26.

Awards

Groignard studied the

stowage In nautical terminology, stowage is the amount of room available for stowing materials aboard a ship, tank or an airplane. In container shipping, stowage planning refers to the arrangement of containers on board a container vessel. The stowage of ...

of ships and modified the positioning of the frames to increase its strength. In 1759 he was awarded the prize of the Academy of Sciences for a memoir on the solidity of vessels. In 1765, he won a prize from the Marine Academy with a memoir on the stowage of ships: "Mémoire sur l'arrimage des vaisseaux". Deputy member of this academy in 1752; full member 1769. Knight of the Order of Saint Louis 1775. Raised to

nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy (class), aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below Royal family, royalty. Nobility has often been an Estates of the realm, estate of the realm with many e ...

in 1780.

Legacy

''Rue Antoine Groignard'' is a

street A street is a public thoroughfare in a built environment. It is a public parcel of land adjoining buildings in an urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. A street can be as simple as a level patch of dirt, ...

in Toulon named after him."Rue Antoine Groignard, Toulon, France." ''Actualité des feuilles de route des villes de France.''
Retrieved 2017-03-27.

References

; Notes ; Bibliography * {{DEFAULTSORT:Groignard, Antoine 1727 births 1799 deaths People from Var (department) French military personnel of the Seven Years' War French military personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars French shipwrights Knights of the Order of Saint Louis French nobility