Henri-François des Herbiers, ''Marquis de L'Estenduère'',''Marquis de L'Estenduère'', ''de L'Etenduère'', ''de L'Etanduère'' ou ''de Létanduère'', according to his domaine

Les Herbiers Les Herbiers () is a commune in the Vendée department in the Pays de la Loire region, western France. Population Sport Les Herbiers is host to the Chrono des Nations, an annual one-day individual time trial bicycle race, held in October. Le ...

, in

Vendée Vendée (; br, Vande) is a department in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France, on the Atlantic coast. In 2019, it had a population of 685,442.

. was born in

Angers Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the pr ...

around 1682 and died in

Rochefort Rochefort () may refer to: Places France * Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, in the Charente-Maritime department ** Arsenal de Rochefort, a former naval base and dockyard * Rochefort, Savoie in the Savoie department * Rochefort-du-Gard, in the Ga ...

in March 1750. He was a Navy officer and aristocrat in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. Coming from a noble family from

Poitou Poitou (, , ; ; Poitevin: ''Poetou'') was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers. Both Poitou and Poitiers are named after the Pictones Gallic tribe. Geography The main historical cities are Poitiers (historical c ...

, he began his navigational training under the direction of his uncle, and began his naval career at an early age in the Marine royale. He distinguished himself for the first time during the

War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phil ...

near

Vélez-Málaga Vélez-Málaga () is a municipality and the capital of the Axarquía comarca in the province of Málaga, in the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia. It is the most important city in the comarca. Locally it is referred to as Vélez. Vélez ...

and then at the Battle of Marbella, before fighting as a

privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

. During the 1720s, he undertook many voyages to

New France New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spa ...

and drew many marine maps of the

Saint Lawrence river The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connectin ...

. He took part in the wars of the Polish Succession, and the

. In 1747, he accomplished his greatest feat at the Battle of Cape Finisterre along the Spanish coast of Galicia. In charge of escorting a merchant convoy to the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

with eight ships, he was attacked on 25 October by 14 British ships of Admiral Edward Hawke, and sustained more than seven hours of fierce combat. Six French vessels were captured, but the convoy was almost totally saved. He also managed to avoid being captured when his ship, '' Le Tonnant'' with (80 cannons) was partially disabled. His second in command,

marquis de Vaudreuil The Marquis de Vaudreuil may refer to: *Philippe de Rigaud de Vaudreuil (1643–1702), governor of Montréal then of New France *Pierre de Rigaud de Vaudreuil (1698–1778), last governor-general of New France *Louis-Philippe de Rigaud, Marquis of V ...

, on the ''Intrépide'' (74 cannon vessel), turned around and traversed British lines, and towed the ship back to

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress * Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria * Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France ** Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Br ...

during the night. He ended his career as ''

chef d'escadre ''Chef d'escadre'' (; literally " squadron commander") was a rank in the French Navy during the Ancien Régime and until the French Revolution. The rank was changed to '' contre-amiral'' by a law passed on 15 May 1791. History The first chefs ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Des Herbiers, Henri Francois, Marquis De L Estenduere 1682 births 1750 deaths French military personnel of the War of the Austrian Succession

See also

References