Camp de Boulogne
The Boulogne camp may designate two military camps around Boulogne-sur-Mer in France.
First camp
The first camp was prepared by Julius Caesar in 54 BC to prepare the fleet for his second expedition to Britain.
One hypothesis is that Julius C ...
. On 7 August, a British brig and a cutter anchored off Boulogne; and the next day, Dornal de Guy received the order from Bruix to attack the ships with five boats. Due to the tides, he couldn't set sail until 3:00 a.m. the next day. The British put to sail and exchanged gun fire with the boats, before retreating.
In 1805, de Guy captained the frigate ''Félicité'', in the Brest squadron. In 1806, he ferried troops, weapons and ammunitions from Brest to
San Domingo
Hispaniola (, also ; es, La Española; Latin and french: Hispaniola; ht, Ispayola; tnq, Ayiti or Quisqueya) is an island in the Caribbean that is part of the Greater Antilles. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and t ...
, where he arrived in time to take part in the
Battle of San Domingo
The Battle of San Domingo was a naval battle of the Napoleonic Wars fought on 6 February 1806 between squadrons of French and British ships of the line off the southern coast of the French-occupied Spanish colonial Captaincy General of Santo ...
. ''Félicité'' was among the three French ships that survived the battle, and she returned to Lorient on 26 March 1806.Fonds marine
In 1807, Dornal de Guy was appointed captain of the ''Manche'' at Cherbourg. Along with the brig ''Cygne'' under Menouvrier Defresne, ''Manche'' had several encounters with HMS ''Uranie'', under Captain Christopher Laroche. On 20 June, ''Uranie'' made a lukewarm attack on the brig, to which the French hardly reacted. The incident later led to the court-martial and eventual dismissal of Laroche.
''Manche'' captured the 16 gun
brig-sloop
In the 18th century and most of the 19th, a sloop-of-war in the Royal Navy was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. The rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above; thus, the term ''sloop-of-war'' enc ...
on 27 September 1808 near
Bengkulu
Bengkulu is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the southwest coast of Sumatra. It was formed on 18 November 1968 by separating out the former Bencoolen Residency area from the province of South Sumatra under Law No. 9 of 1967 and was fi ...
.
In 1809, ''Manche'' was dispatched from Cherbourg to Port-Louis at Ile de France to replace the aging ''Sémillante'', which had been decommissioned and sold to
Robert Surcouf
Robert Surcouf (12 December 1773 – 8 July 1827) was a French privateer and slave trader who operated in the Indian Ocean between 1789 and 1801, and again from 1807 to 1808, capturing over 40 prizes. He later amassed a large fortune as a ...
. De Guy arrived on 6 March, and after a one-month leave, ''Manche'' undertook her first cruise in the
Mozambique Channel
The Mozambique Channel (french: Canal du Mozambique, mg, Lakandranon'i Mozambika, pt, Canal de Moçambique) is an arm of the Indian Ocean located between the Southeast African countries of Madagascar and Mozambique. The channel is about long ...
action of 18 November 1809
The action of 18 November 1809 was the major engagement of a six-month cruise by a French frigate squadron in the Indian Ocean, during the Napoleonic Wars. The French commander, Commodore Jacques Hamelin, was engaged in commerce raiding across ...
, capturing three large Indiamen. Dornal de Guy eventually returned to Ile de France after an eight-month patrol, along with ''Créole'' and two of the prizes.
After the capture of
Jacques Hamelin
Ancient and noble French family names, Jacques, Jacq, or James are believed to originate from the Middle Ages in the historic northwest Brittany region in France, and have since spread around the world over the centuries. To date, there are over ...
at the
action of 18 September 1810
The action of 18 September 1810 was a naval battle fought between British Royal Navy and French Navy frigates in the Indian Ocean during the Napoleonic Wars. The engagement was one of several between rival frigate squadrons contesting control of ...
, Dornal de Guy became the senior naval officer of the French forces in the Indian Ocean. In November, seeing that the British forces received sustained reinforcements, he moored his ships ( ''Manche'', ''Astrée'', ''Bellone'' and ''Minerve'') and disembarked the crews to reinforce the garrison of
Port Louis
Port Louis (french: Port-Louis; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Polwi or , ) is the capital city of Mauritius. It is mainly located in the Port Louis District, with a small western part in the Black River District. Port Louis is the country's ec ...
. The
Invasion of Île de France
The Invasion of Isle de France was a complicated but successful British amphibious operation in the Indian Ocean, launched in November 1810 during the Napoleonic Wars. During the operation, a substantial military force was landed by the Royal N ...
occurred in November, and the island surrendered the next month.Troude, ''op. cit.'', vol. 4, p. 115