Thomas Claude Bernard Renart de Fuschamberg, marquis d'Amblimont (1642 – 17 August 1700) was a French naval officer who was governor general of the
French Antilles
The French West Indies or French Antilles (french: Antilles françaises, ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Antiy fwansez) are the parts of France located in the Antilles islands of the Caribbean:
* The two overseas departments of:
** Guadeloup ...
.
He is best known for his 1674 defense of Martinique against Dutch forces under Admiral Michiel de Ruyter, where he was captain of a warship that played a critical role in driving the Dutch land forces off their beachhead.
Early years (1642–74)
Thomas Claude Renart de Fuchsamberg was born on 21 March 1642 in
Mouzon, Ardennes
Mouzon () is a commune in the Ardennes department in northern France. It is situated on the river Meuse. On 1 January 2016, the former commune Amblimont was merged into Mouzon.[Battle of Valenciennes (1656)
The Battle of Valenciennes was fought on 16 July 1656 between the Spanish troops commanded by John Joseph of Austria and the French troops under Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne, Vicomte de Turenne, in the outskirts of the said city in the Spanish Ne ...]
he inherited the seigneury of Amblimont, near Mouzon.
Amblimont obtained a position as captain in the regiment of
Jean-Armand de Joyeuse, Marquis de Grandpré
Jean-Armand de Joyeuse (1631 – 1 July 1710), Marquis de Grandpré and Baron de Verpel, was a soldier and Marshal of France during the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.
Early life and career
Joyeuse was born to Antoine François de J ...
.
He joined that regiment on 20 September 1656.
In November 1663 Amblimont transferred to the navy as ''
lieutenant de vaisseau''.
In 1669 he was ''
capitaine de vaisseau
Captain is the name most often given in English-speaking navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The rank is equal to the army rank of colonel and air force rank of group captain.
Equivalent ranks worldwide includ ...
'' in
Rochefort, Charente-Maritime
Rochefort ( oc, Ròchafòrt), unofficially Rochefort-sur-Mer (; oc, Ròchafòrt de Mar, link=no) for disambiguation, is a city and communes of France, commune in Southwestern France, a port on the Charente (river), Charente estuary. It is a Subpr ...
.
That year he participated in the
Cretan War as aide-de-camp of Almeiras.
Defense of Martinique (1674)
The
Third Anglo-Dutch War
The Third Anglo-Dutch War ( nl, Derde Engels-Nederlandse Oorlog), 27 March 1672 to 19 February 1674, was a naval conflict between the Dutch Republic and England, in alliance with France. It is considered a subsidiary of the wider 1672 to 1678 ...
was launched by the English and French in 1672, but the allies were outmatched by the Dutch forces under Admiral
Michiel de Ruyter
Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter (; 24 March 1607 – 29 April 1676) was a Dutch admiral. Widely celebrated and regarded as one of the most skilled admirals in history, De Ruyter is arguably most famous for his achievements with the Dutch N ...
, who inflicted several defeats.
After the English had withdrawn from their alliance with France, de Ruyter appeared off Martinique on 16 July 1674 with a fleet that included 18 warships, support vessels and 15 troop transports with 3,400 soldiers.
The French were expecting de Ruyter but thought Fort Royal (now
Fort-de-France
Fort-de-France (, , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Fodfwans) is a Communes of France, commune and the capital city of Martinique, an overseas department and region of France located in the Caribbean. It is also one of the major cities in the ...
) was impregnable, so had concentrated their forces up the coast at
Saint-Pierre.
De Ruyter directed his force to Fort Royal, but was becalmed on the first day, giving the French time for urgent efforts to improve the defenses.
The governor of Martinique
Antoine André de Sainte-Marthe
Antoine André, chevalier de Sainte-Marthe de Lalande (1615 – 12 August 1679) was a French soldier who served in England, Belgium and Martinique.
He is best known for his defeat of the Dutch in their attempted Invasion of Martinique (1674).
As a ...
arrived to take command at dawn, by which time the French had booms across the harbour mouth and enough men to work the batteries.
Two armed ship were anchored off the fort: the 44-gun royal frigate ''Jeux'' under Amblimont and the 22-gun merchantman ''Saint Eustache''.
At the start of the attempted
Invasion of Martinique de Ruyter's force was greeted by heavy gunfire when it entered the harbour in the morning on 20 July.
1,000 Dutch troops were landed at 9:00 a.m. but found themselves trapped below high cliffs, exposed to fire from the French batteries and from the two armed ships.
They broke into a rum warehouse and all discipline was lost.
The commanders of the Dutch land forces tried to take shelter below a cliff, but Amblimont at once landed six guns from the ''Jeux'' and opened fire on the new position.
Dutch morale collapsed when their commander Van Uyttenhowe was badly wounded.
The Dutch troops escaped by boat around 1:00 a.m., made a second assault at 2:00 p.m., and again were forced to retreat.
The Dutch had lost 143 dead and 318 wounded against 15 French dead.
They abandoned the effort, sailed north that night, and eventually returned to Europe in disarray.
King
Louis XIV of France
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Versa ...
ennobled Sainte-Marthe for his victory against the Dutch.
The king had a medal struck to commemorate this feat of arms.
Amblimont was made the first marquis d'Amblimont by letters patent.
Later career (1674–96)
In 1677 Amblimont cruised in the Antilles in the ''Alycon'' in the squadron of Admiral
Jean II d'Estrées
Jean, Comte d'Estrées, (3 November 1624 in Solothurn, Switzerland – 19 May 1707 in Paris), was a Marshal of France, and an important naval commander of Louis XIV. He was born into a noble family from Picardy. His aunt was Gabrielle d'Estrà ...
and assisted in the seizure of
Tobago
Tobago () is an List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, island and Regions and municipalities of Trinidad and Tobago, ward within the Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located northeast of the larger island of Trini ...
.
On 7 May 1678 d'Estrées launched an expedition from
Saint Christopher Island
Saint Kitts, officially the Saint Christopher Island, is an island in the West Indies. The west side of the island borders the Caribbean Sea, and the eastern coast faces the Atlantic Ocean. Saint Kitts and the neighbouring island of Nevis cons ...
against the Dutch base of
Curaçao
Curaçao ( ; ; pap, Kòrsou, ), officially the Country of Curaçao ( nl, Land Curaçao; pap, Pais Kòrsou), is a Lesser Antilles island country in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, about north of the Venezuela coast ...
.
He had 18 of the king's warships supported by more than 12 buccaneer vessels.
His course was down the
Lesser Antilles
The Lesser Antilles ( es, link=no, Antillas Menores; french: link=no, Petites Antilles; pap, Antias Menor; nl, Kleine Antillen) are a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. Most of them are part of a long, partially volcanic island arc betwe ...
and then west past the
Orchila,
Roques Roques may refer to:
Places
* Roques, Gers, a commune in France
* Roqués, an uninhabited village in Spain
* Roques, Haute-Garonne, a commune in France
* Roques de Anaga, two monuments of Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
* La Roque-d'Anthéron, a ...
and
Aves
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...
islands.
The fleet strayed too far south when near the Aves Archipelago and during the night of 11–12 May 1678 the fleet began to strike the reefs.
Amblimont's ''Défenseur'' (50) was among the warships that sank.
Others were the flagship ''Terrible'' (70), ''Belliqueux'' (70), ''Tonnant'' (66), ''Bourbon'' (56), ''Prince'' and ''Hercule''.
Six other ships sank, 500 men were drowned and the French lost most of their guns.
The shattered remnants of the force had to retreat towards
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 ...
(Haiti).
In 1680 Aublimont was made a commander of the
Order of Saint Lazarus
The Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem, also known as the Leper Brothers of Jerusalem or simply as Lazarists, was a Catholic military order (monastic society), military order founded by crusaders around 1119 at a leprosy, leper hospital in Jerus ...
.
In 1683, sailing with
Jean Bart
Jean Bart (; ; 21 October 1650 – 27 April 1702) was a French Admiral, naval commander and privateer.
Early life
Jean Bart was born in Dunkirk, France, Dunkirk in 1650 to a seafaring family, the son of Jean-Cornil Bart (c. 1619-1668) who has b ...
on the ''Modéré'', he helped capture two Spanish vessels in the vicinity of
Cádiz
Cádiz (, , ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia.
Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, ...
.
In 1686, still on the ''Modéré'', he was part of a small squadron under Job Forant
( fr) and engaged in battle near
Cape Finisterre
Cape Finisterre (, also ; gl, Cabo Fisterra, italic=no ; es, Cabo Finisterre, italic=no ) is a rock-bound peninsula on the west coast of Galicia, Spain.
In Roman times it was believed to be an end of the known world. The name Finisterre, like ...
.
On 2 May 1687 Amblimont left
La Rochelle
La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle''; oc, La Rochèla ) is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department. With ...
on the 52-gun ''Arc-en-ciel'' in command of a squadron with two other warships, ''Perle'' and ''Profond'', and two transports carrying twelve companies of marine troops to combat the
Iroquois
The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...
threat.
The flotilla made a fast passage and reached
Quebec City
Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...
on 29 May 1687.
In January 1688 Amblimont married Catherine Balarin de Parisot.
Their son, Claude Thomas Renart de Fuschamberg d'Amblimont, also became a squadron leader.
Amblimont distinguished himself at the start of the
Nine Years' War
The Nine Years' War (1688–1697), often called the War of the Grand Alliance or the War of the League of Augsburg, was a conflict between France and a European coalition which mainly included the Holy Roman Empire (led by the Habsburg monarch ...
(1688–97) in a battle where, with four frigates, he attacked five English vessels, sank two, burned a third and took a fourth.
On 27 July 1689 as commander of the ''Profond'' Amblimont destroyed a Dutch squadron off the
Texel
Texel (; Texels dialect: ) is a municipality and an island with a population of 13,643 in North Holland, Netherlands. It is the largest and most populated island of the West Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea. The island is situated north of De ...
.
On 24 May 1692 on the ''Victorieux'' he took part in the
Battle of La Hougue
The Battles of Barfleur and La Hougue took place during the Nine Years' War, between 19 May O.S. (29 May N.S.) and 4 June O.S. (14 June N.S.) 1692. The first was fought near Barfleur on 19 May O.S. (29 May N.S.), with later actions occurring ...
, for which he was promoted to squadron commander.
He was promoted to ''
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 ...
'' in January 1693.
He was made a commander 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 ...
when that order was established later in 1693.
Governor general of the Antilles (1696–1700)
Charles de Courbon de Blénac
Charles de Courbon, comte de Blénac (1622 – 10 June 1696) was a French colonial administration who served as governor general of the French Antilles during the 17th century. He was an experienced soldier and fought for the king during the Fron ...
, governor general of the French Antilles, died on 10 June 1696 and was succeeded as interim governor general by
Charles de Pechpeyrou-Comminges de Guitaut
Charles de Pechpeyrou-Comminges, chevalier de Guitaut (or Guitaud; died 7 September 1702) was a French army and naval officer who became governor of Martinique and then of Saint Christophe.
He was three times acting lieutenant-general of the Frenc ...
.
Amblimont was appointed governor general on 1 September 1696, and was received in
Martinique
Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in th ...
on 14 March 1697.
He died in Martinique on 17 August 1700.
Guitaut was again interim governor until
Charles Desnotz
Charles, comte Desnotz (or Desnots, des Nos, des Nots, d'Esnots; – 6 October 1701) was a French naval officer who was governor of Martinique in 1701 at the start of the War of the Spanish Succession. He died of yellow fever a few months after ...
took office on 23 May 1701.
Notes
Citations
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Further reading
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fuschamberg, Thomas Claude Bernard Renart de
1642 births
1700 deaths
Governors general of the French Antilles
Governors of French Saint Lucia