Pierre Jean Van StabelSometimes written "Vanstabel" (8 November 1744 in

Dunkirk Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label=French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France.Levot, p.528 – 30 March 1797 in DunkirkLevot, p.528) was a French naval officer and rear-admiral, famous for his role in the

Glorious First of June The Glorious First of June (1 June 1794), also known as the Fourth Battle of Ushant, (known in France as the or ) was the first and largest fleet action of the naval conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the First French Republic ...

Career

Van Stabel was born to a family of sailors and started a career in the merchant navy at the age of fourteen,Hennequin, p.271 steadily rosing to the rank of sea captain. In 1778, with the intervention of

France in the American Revolutionary War French involvement in the American Revolutionary War of 1775–1783 began in 1776 when the Kingdom of France secretly shipped supplies to the Continental Army of the Thirteen Colonies when it was established in June 1775. France was a long-term ...

, Van Stabel enlisted in the French Royal Navy as an auxiliary officer.

Service on ''Rohan Soubise''

Van Stabel took command of the privateer ''Dunkerquoise''Préparation Militaire Marine de Dunkerque ''Amiral Pierre Vanstabel''
by Jean Bouger. Sous-mama.org In 1781, he was in command of the 22-gun corvette ''Rohan Soubise'', formerly the privateer ''Comtesse d'Artois'' purchased into service on 27 April 1781.Roche, p.385 Commanding ''Rohan Soubise'', Van Stabel captured the British privateer ''Admiral-Rodney'' after a one-hour battle, in which he was twice wounded by musket bullets to the throat, relinquishing command of his ship just long enough to have the bullets removed from him body. Too damaged in the battle to be taken as a prize, the privateer was then scuttled by fire. King

Louis XVI Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...

had a silver sword presented to him in recognition.Hennequin, p.272 Van Stabel later commanded another privateer, the ''Robecq''.

Service as captain the Channel

In 1782, Van Stabel was promoted to frigate lieutenant, and tasked with escort duty in the English Channel, on various small warships. In 1787, Van Stabel was tasked with ferrying four large barges from Boulogne to Brest. In 1788, he conducted a hydrographic survey of the coasts of the English Channel; he was given command of the lugger ''Fanfaron''.Roche, p.192 Promoted to ensign in 1792, he took command of the frigate ''Proserpine'', on which he left a one-year campaign in the Caribbean and

Saint-Domingue Saint-Domingue () was a French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1804. The name derives from the Spanish main city in the island, Santo Domingo, which came to refer ...

. In February 1793, with the outbreak of the

War of the First Coalition The War of the First Coalition (french: Guerre de la Première Coalition) was a set of wars that several European powers fought between 1792 and 1797 initially against the Kingdom of France (1791-92), constitutional Kingdom of France and then t ...

, Van Stabel was promoted to captain, and appointed to command the frigate ''Thétis''. He departed Brestin in April and led a four-month campaign in the English Channel, capturing around forty British merchantmen.

Service as rear-admiral the Channel

In November of the same year, Van Stabel was promoted to rear-admiral, and took command of a division comprising six ships of the line, with his flag on the 74-gun ''Tigre''; the other ships were the 74-gun ''Jean Bart'', ''Tourville'', ''Impétueux'', ''Aquilon'' and ''Révolution'', with a screening force comprising the frigates ''Insurgente'' and ''Sémillante'', and the brigs ''Ballon'' and ''Espiègle''.Troude, p.291 On 16 November, the division departed Brest to intercept a British convoy in the Channel. Instead of the convoy and its expected four-ship escortTroude (p.291) states that the French expected five ships of the line under Sir John Jervis, Van Stabel's division met a 28-ship squadron under Admiral Howe. Van Stabel ordered a retreat, but ''Sémillante''s inferior nautical qualities made her lag behind the division, and she was soon overhauled by a British frigate; Van Stabel sailed ''Tigre'' independently to rescue her, and in the course of a chase that lasted several days,Hennequin, p.273 managed to pry seventeen merchantmen for the convoy without granting Howe a head-on engagement before returning to Brest. Only ''Espiègle'' was captured by two frigates on the 29th.Troude, p.292

Atlantic campaign of May 1794

Later than year, Van Stabel was tasked with escorting a food convoy gathered by Captain Émeriau, of the frigate ''Embuscade'',Hennequin, p.274 from the

Chesapeake Chesapeake often refers to: *Chesapeake people, a Native American tribe also known as the Chesepian * The Chesapeake, a.k.a. Chesapeake Bay *Delmarva Peninsula, also known as the Chesapeake Peninsula Chesapeake may also refer to: Populated plac ...

to France. The convoy departed in April, counting 170 ships. The pursuit of the convoy of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

was the focus of the

Atlantic campaign of May 1794 The Atlantic campaign of May 1794 was a series of operations conducted by the British Royal Navy's Channel Fleet against the French Navy's Atlantic Fleet, with the aim of preventing the passage of a strategically important French grain convoy t ...

which culminated with the battle of the

. The convoy arrived at the scene of the battle on 3 June and found the debris left by the battle; Van Stabel considered whether to keep his route for fear that the British fleet might ambush him, but decided that the quantity of wreckage was a sign that both fleets had had to return to harbour.Hennequin, p.275 He continued on, and eventually reached

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 ...

unharmed on 13 June, without losing any ship, and having augmented his convoy with forty prizes. The

National Convention The National Convention (french: link=no, Convention nationale) was the parliament of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for the rest of its existence during the French Revolution, following the two-year National ...

voted a decree that Van Stabel had Bien mérité de la Patrie. During the

Croisière du Grand Hiver The ''Croisière du Grand Hiver'' (French "Campaign of the Great Winter") was a French attempt to organise a winter naval campaign in the wake of the Glorious First of June. Context The Glorious First of June had ended on a strategic success f ...

, Van Stabel commanded the light squadron of Villaret-Joyeuse's fleet, he lost none of this ships.

Later service

In 1796, the

French Directory The Directory (also called Directorate, ) was the governing five-member committee in the French First Republic from 2 November 1795 until 9 November 1799, when it was overthrown by Napoleon, Napoleon Bonaparte in the Coup of 18 Brumaire and r ...

decided to reopen the shipping lines on the

Scheldt The Scheldt (french: Escaut ; nl, Schelde ) is a river that flows through northern France, western Belgium, and the southwestern part of Netherlands, the Netherlands, with its mouth at the North Sea. Its name is derived from an adjective corr ...

, and tasked Van Stabel to lead two brigs and four gunboats to escort eight merchantmen to

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

(six French and two Swedish). Van Stabel managed to sail by several Dutch forts without engaging them. Van Stabel then returned to

Vlissingen Vlissingen (; zea, label=Zeelandic, Vlissienge), historically known in English as Flushing, is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city in the southwestern Netherlands on the former island of Walcheren. With its strategic l ...

to conduct patrols in the North Sea at the head of a division comprising four frigates and a number of corvettes.Hennequin, p.276 However, his declining health forced him to return to Dunkirk, where he died soon after of a chest disease.Hennequin, p.276

Notes and references

Notes

References

Bibliography

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External links

Amiral Pierre VANSTABEL, la Préparation Militaire Marine de Dunkerque par Jean BOUGER
{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Stabel, Pierre Jean French Navy admirals People from Dunkirk 1744 births 1797 deaths Dunkirk Privateers