Pierre-Marie Le Bozec (28 April 1769, in

Île-de-Bréhat Bréhat (french: Île-de-Bréhat, ) is an island and ''commune'' located near Paimpol, a mile off the northern coast of Brittany. Administratively, it is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in northwestern France. Bréhat is actually an ...

– 15 May 1830, in Île-de-Bréhat) was a French Navy officer.

Biography

Youth

Le Bozec was born to a family of sailors, and started sailing in 1780 on a merchantman. From 1782, he took part in the

Naval operations in the American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War saw a series of battles involving naval forces of the British Royal Navy and the Continental Navy from 1775, and of the French Navy from 1778 onwards. Although the British enjoyed more numerical victories, thes ...

on the 80-gun ''Deux Frères'', captained by his father. From 1787 and 1789, he served as second captain on the ''Comte Esterhazy'' and the ''Colombe'', and on the ''Deux Frères'' again.

First Republic

Le Bozec was promoted to ensign in 1792. The following year, he was given command of the corvette ''Vaillante'', tasked with escort duties in the English Channel. He was involved in a fight with a British corvette, driving her away. He was promoted to lieutenant the same year. In early 1794, Le Bozec was awarded command of the brand new 24-gun corvette ''Républicaine''. After a number of patrols in the Channel, he joined up with Lhermitte's squadron, bound for Norway. It comprised the frigates ''Seine'', under Lhermitte, and ''Galathée'', under Labutte. The squadron found itself blocked by cold and damage in a Norwegian harbour during the entire winter of 1794 - 1795, sustaining over 250 dead from illness out of a total complement of 880. In spring, ''Seine'' and ''Galathée'' returned to France, leaving ''Républicaine'' to care for the untransportable sick. They eventually were rescued by the corvette ''Subtile''. In the summer and autumn of 1795, ''Républicaine'' and ''Subtile'' sailed together in a number of short patrols. Le Bozec sustained an injury in a battle against a British frigate. In March 1796, Le Bozec was promoted to commander and set sail for a patrol off the coasts of Africa and Brazil, capturing 76 prizes. In 1798 it captures the ship Rainha dos Anjos (Queen of Angels) in Maldonado (today, Uruguay). In July 1799, he met the 38-gun HMS ''Tamar'' and, after losing all his masts, had to strike his colours.HMS ''Tamar'', 1796
Naval Database Le Bozec was exchanged after a few months. In 1801, he was appointed to the 44-gun ''Clorinde'' and took part in the campaigns at Santo Domingo under Latouche Tréville. In March 1803, Le Bozec was promoted to captain and supervised the station of Santo Domingo. He was taken prisoner when the island fell.

First Empire

Le Bozed was released on parole in the middle of the year 1804, under the promise not to sail for 6 years. Upon his return to France, he was thus tasked with inspection duties between the

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and

Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town (''Communes of France, commune'') and Port, seaport in the Morbihan Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in western France. History Prehistory and classical antiquity Beginn ...

. From 1810, he captained the ''Friedland'', in Anvers. From March 1811 to March 1812, he was appointed to ''Marengo''. After this task, he was tasked with the commissioning of the frigate ''Étoile''. In 1813, was given command of a frigate squadron comprising ''Aréthuse'', ''Illyrienne'' and ''Alcyon'', with this flag on ''Aréthuse''. After two patrols, Le Bozec was informed of the abdication of Napoleon and the end of the

War of the Sixth Coalition In the War of the Sixth Coalition (March 1813 – May 1814), sometimes known in Germany as the Wars of Liberation, a coalition of Austria, Prussia, Russia, Spain, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Sweden, and a number of German States defeated F ...

. He consequently freed 11 prizes captured in the preceding weeks.

Bourbon restoration

On 18 August 1814, Le Bozec was appointed Knight of the Order of Saint Louis. In March 1815, he was appointed to Le Havre. The next year, he was promoted to ''capitaine de vaisseau de première classe''. In 1817, he commanded a frigate squadron comprising ''Flore'', ''Coquette'' and ''Églantine'', with his flag on ''Flore'', in a cruise to the Caribbean and Guyana. Le Bozec was then Major general of the harbour of

Cherbourg Cherbourg (; , , ), nrf, Chèrbourg, ) is a former commune and subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French department of Manche. It was merged into the commune of Cherbourg-Octeville on 28 Feb ...

, before retiring in 1822. He was made an honorary ''contre-amiral''.

Sources and references

* ''A propos d'un illustre bréhatin : le contre-amiral Le Bozec'' par Yves De Sagazan – Les Carnets du Goëlo n°1 (1985), bulletin de la

Société d'études historiques et archéologique du Goëlo Lactalis is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier SA. Lactalis is the largest dairy products group in the world, and is the sec ...

* ''Dictionnaire des capitaines de vaisseau de Napoléon'' par Danièle et Bernard Quintin, S.P.M. Paris 2003 * Susana Sarfson "Hallazgo de la partitura de un Amable y Minuet en un expediente legal de 1799 de los legajos de esclavos del Archivo General de la Nación en Buenos Aires", Revista de Musicología Vol. 31, No. 2 (Diciembre 2008), pp. 435–452. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20797931?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents {{DEFAULTSORT:Le Bozec, Pierre-Marie French Navy admirals 1769 births 1830 deaths French naval commanders of the Napoleonic Wars People from Côtes-d'Armor