Esprit-Tranquille Maistral (

Quimper Quimper (, ; br, Kemper ; la, Civitas Aquilonia or ) is a commune and prefecture of the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France. Administration Quimper is the prefecture (capital) of the Finistère department. Geography Th ...

, 21 May 1763 -

Guipavas Guipavas (; ) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France. The writer Maurice Polard (born 1932) is from Guipavas. The city is divided into two major parts: the west, known as the dynamic core of the city and s ...

, 5 November 1815) was a French Navy officer. He took part 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 ...

and in the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted France against Britain, Austria, Prussia ...

, and had a pivotal role in the

Battle of Trafalgar The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (180 ...

Career

Esprit-Tranquille Maistral was born to François Louis Maistral, a physician, and to his wife Françoise Yvonne Bouisse. He was the brother of Désiré-Marie Maistral. Maistral joined the Navy as a boy on 1 July 1775 on ''Oiseau''. The next year, he served as a sailor on ''Roland'', and on 27 April 1778, he was promoted helmsman on the ''Bretagne''.

American Revolutionary war

On 29 June 1778, he volunteered for service on the ''Vengeur'', taking part in the

Battle of Ushant (1778) The Battle of Ushant (also called the First Battle of Ushant) took place on 27 July 1778, and was fought during the American Revolutionary War between French and British fleets west of Ushant, an island at the mouth of the English Channel off ...

, the

Battle of Grenada The Battle of Grenada took place on 6 July 1779 during the American Revolutionary War in the West Indies between the British Royal Navy and the French Navy, just off the coast of Grenada. The British fleet of Admiral John Byron (the grandfath ...

, the

Battle of Martinique (1779) The Battle of Martinique, or Combat de la Martinique, was a naval encounter on 18 December 1779 between a British 13-ship squadron under Admiral Hyde Parker and a three-ship French division under Admiral Lamotte-Picquet near the island of Mart ...

, the

Battle of Martinique (1780) The Battle of Martinique, also known as the Combat de la Dominique, took place on 17 April 1780 during the American Revolutionary War in the West Indies between the British Royal Navy and the French Navy. Origins In March 1780, the French chi ...

and in action off Saint Lucia on 16 and 19 May 1780. On 18 February 1781, he was promoted to Lieutenant de frégate, and appointed to ''Scipion''. Aboard, he took part in the Battle of Fort Royal, the

Battle of the Chesapeake The Battle of the Chesapeake, also known as the Battle of the Virginia Capes or simply the Battle of the Capes, was a crucial naval battle in the American Revolutionary War that took place near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay on 5 September 17 ...

, the Battle of Saint Kitts, and the

Battle of the Saintes The Battle of the Saintes (known to the French as the Bataille de la Dominique), also known as the Battle of Dominica, was an important naval battle in the Caribbean between the British and the French that took place 9–12 April 1782. The Brit ...

. In the

action of 18 October 1782 The action of 18 October 1782 was a minor naval engagement of the American Revolutionary War, in which the French 74-gun ship of the line ''Scipion'', accompanied by the 40-gun frigate ''Sibylle'', was chased by two Royal Navy ships of the lin ...

, Maistral was wounded by a splinter. After the sinking of ''Scipion'' on 20 October, Maistral returned to France in April 1782 on ''Fantasque'', arriving in July. On 22 July 1783, Maistral was promoted to ''lieutenant de frégate entretenu'', and appointed to the fluyt ''Étoile''. In October 1783, ''Étoile'' departed Lorient, bound for San Domingo where she arrived in September 1784. The next year, he transferred to the fluyt ''Mulet'' in Brest, and left in October 1785 for San Domingo, which he reached in April of the next year. On 1 May 1786, Maistral was promoted to ''Sous-lieutenant de vaisseau'' and appointed to the ''Malin'' from June to September. He then transferred on the brand new

74-gun The "seventy-four" was a type of two- decked sailing ship of the line, which nominally carried 74 guns. It was developed by the French navy in the 1740s, replacing earlier classes of 60- and 62-gun ships, as a larger complement to the recently-de ...

''Léopard'', on which he sailed from July to February 1788. From March to November 1788, he cruised off Terre-Neuve on the corvette ''Vigilante''.

French Revolution

From March 1790 to August 1791, Maistral served on the corvette ''Sans-Soucis'', off San Domingo. In June, he transferred on the frigate ''Proserpine'', and in November on the fluyt ''Normande''. On 1 January 1792, Maistral was promoted to Lieutenant. On 12 November, he was appointed to the 74-gun ''Éole'', in station off San Domingo. On 1 January 1793, he was promoted to Captain 2nd class; he took command of ''Éole'' from 20 March to 8 April, and from 16 May to 25 June, he captained ''Normande''. On 1 January 1794, he rose to Captain first class. Arrived in Brest on 25 June, he was arrested and detained in the

Château de Brest The Château de Brest ( br, Kastell Brest) is a castle in Brest, Finistère, France. The oldest monument in the town, it is located at the mouth of the river Penfeld at the heart of the roadstead of Brest, one of the largest roadsteads in the ...

. He was freed on 18 November 1794, after the

Thermidorian Reaction The Thermidorian Reaction (french: Réaction thermidorienne or ''Convention thermidorienne'', "Thermidorian Convention") is the common term, in the historiography of the French Revolution, for the period between the ousting of Maximilien Robespie ...

, and served in Brest harbour. On 21 March, he was promoted to Commodor (''Chef de division'') and took command of the 110-gun ''Terrible'' from 27 April to 11 November. On 12, he transferred to the 74-gun ''Fougueux'', on which he took part in the

Expédition d'Irlande The French expedition to Ireland, known in French as the ''Expédition d'Irlande'' ("Expedition to Ireland"), was an unsuccessful attempt by the French Republic to assist the outlawed Society of United Irishmen, a popular rebel Irish republican ...

, and which he commanded until 17 August 1797. On 9 March 1798, Maistral took command of ''Mont Blanc'', on which he took part in Bruix' expedition of 1799; on 5 March 1800, he was replaced by his brother, Captain Désiré Marie Maistral, to temporally captain the 80-gun ''Formidable'', flagship of contre-amiral Pierre Dumanoir le Pelley, until 26 April, when he returned to the command of ''Mont Blanc'', keeping her until 24 January 1801. On 29 June, he married Rose Aimée Perrine Chardon de Courcelles in Brest. On 23 September 1800, the rank of commodore was suppressed in the French Navy, and Maistral was retrograded to captain. He then successively commanded the 74-gun ships ''Patriote'', on which he cruise off San Domingo from 25 January 1801 to 27 April 1802; the ''Berwick'', which he used to ferry troops to Martinique from 28 April 1802 to 12 June 1803; and the ''Annibal'' from 13 June 1803 to 10 June 1804.

First Empire

On 11 June 1804, he was appointed to the 80-gun ''Neptune''. Commanding this ship, he took part in the Trafalgar Campaign. At the Battle of Cape Finisterre, he supported ''Atlas''. At the

, ''Neptune'' came immediately after the flagship ''Bucentaure'', but was separated from her lead, opening a weakness that allowed HMS ''Victory'' to rake the French flagship and cut the French line, despite the efforts of ''Redoutable'' to fill the gap. ''Neptune'' aided ''Principe de Asturias'' and retreated to Cadiz. After Trafalgar, Maistral fell out of favour and was deprived of command until 12 November 1810, when he took command of the 15th flotilla crew. On 1 April 1811, he transferred to the 19th crew, and from 20 July 1813 to 18 July 1814, he was the military officer in charge of Brest harbour. On 1 July 1814, Maistral was promoted to contre-amiral, and retired three months later. During the Bourbon restauration, he was confirmed in his rank and pension. He died in his home of Pénandalot at 2 in the night on 5 November 1815.

Honours

* Officer of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

* Knight of 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 literature

In '' The Commodore'',

Patrick O'Brian Patrick O'Brian, CBE (12 December 1914 – 2 January 2000), born Richard Patrick Russ, was an English novelist and translator, best known for his Aubrey–Maturin series of sea novels set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, and cent ...

names the head of the French squadron coming to

West Cork West Cork ( ga, Iarthar Chorcaí) is a tourist region and municipal district in County Cork, Ireland. As a municipal district, West Cork falls within the administrative area of Cork County Council, and includes the towns of Bantry, Castletownber ...

for a rematch of the

as Esprit-Tranquille Maistral. Again, the French lose, though coming much closer to success, and Maistral surrenders to Aubrey, and then is taken aboard HMS ''Bellona''.

Citations and references

Citations References * External links
MAISTRAL, Esprit Tranquille
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maistral, Esprit-Tranquille 1763 births 1815 deaths French Navy officers French naval commanders of the Napoleonic Wars