Bon Chrétien de Briqueville (

Bretteville, Manche Bretteville () is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in northwestern France. Population See also * Communes of the Manche department The following is a list of the 446 Communes of France, communes of the Manche Departments of F ...

, 2 October 1726— Valognes, 1 January 1803) was a French Navy officer. He served in the

War of American Independence The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, earning membership in the

Society of the Cincinnati The Society of the Cincinnati is a fraternal, hereditary society founded in 1783 to commemorate the American Revolutionary War that saw the creation of the United States. Membership is largely restricted to descendants of military officers wh ...

, and was one of the prominent figures of the

Académie de Marine The Royal Naval Academy of France (french: Académie royale de marine) was founded at Brest by a ruling of 31 July 1752 by Antoine Louis de Rouillé, comte de Jouy, Secretary of State for the Navy. This institutionalised an earlier initiative b ...

Biography

Bricqueville was born to the family of Madeleine de la Motte de Pont-Roger and of Guillaume Antoine de Briqueville, and a distant relative of Vice-Admiral . He joined the Navy as a Garde-Marine in on 2 November 1743. He served on the 32-gun frigate ''Perle'' and took part in Duc d'Anville expedition to Acadia under La Rochefoucauld. He served on the 64-gun ''Lys'' and was taken prisoner by the British after Action of 8 June 1755, and released in January 1756. Bricqueville was promoted to Lieutenant on 15 May 1756. He then supervised construction of the 12-gun corvette ''Levrette'' and of the 22-gun frigate ''Guirlande''. Bricqueville was awarded the

Order of Saint Louis The Royal and Military Order of Saint Louis (french: Ordre Royal et Militaire de Saint-Louis) is a dynastic order of chivalry founded 5 April 1693 by King Louis XIV, named after Saint Louis (King Louis IX of France). It was intended as a rewar ...

in 1763. He was Director of the

for the year 1771. He was promoted to Captain on 18 February 1772. In 1773, he was one of the rapporteurs on Kerguelen's work after his expedition to

Kerguelen Islands The Kerguelen Islands ( or ; in French commonly ' but officially ', ), also known as the Desolation Islands (' in French), are a group of islands in the sub-Antarctic constituting one of the two exposed parts of the Kerguelen Plateau, a large ...

. From 1775, he commanded the 32-gun frigate ''Légère'' in the squadron under

Guichen Guichen (; ; Gallo: ''Gischen'') is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine department in Brittany in northwestern France. History Population Inhabitants of Guichen are called ''Guichenais'' in French. Image gallery File: Halles-guichen-2014 ...

. In 1775, he commanded the 18-gun corvette ''Hirondelle'' in the Escadre d'évolutions. In 1778, he commanded the 64-gun ''Solitaire'' in the Third Division of the Blue squadron in the fleet of

Orvilliers Orvilliers () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. Georges Pompidou, President of France from 1969 to his death in 1974, is buried in the local cemetery. See also *Communes of the Yveline ...

, and took part in the Battle of Ushant on 27 July 1778. From 1779, Bricqueville commanded the 74-gun ''Northumberland''. From 1781, she was attached to the White squadron in the fleet under De Grasse. He captained her at the Battle of the Chesapeake on 5 September 1781, in the subsequent Siege of Yorktown, and in the invasion of Saint Kitts. Briqueville was relieved of duty on medical grounds on 19 February 1782 and returned to France on the 32-gun frigate ''Aigrette''. In 1782, Bricqueville was promoted to

Brigadier des armées navales Brigadier is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. In ...

, and on 20 August 1784 to Chef d'Escadre.

Sources and references

Notes Citations References * * * * * External links * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Albert de Saint-Hippolyte, Joseph François Auguste Jules French Navy officers French military personnel of the American Revolutionary War