Pierre Dumanoir le Pelley
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Vice-Admiral Count Pierre Étienne René Marie Dumanoir Le Pelley (2 August 1770 in Granville – 7 July 1829 in Paris) was a
French Navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...
officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," f ...
, best known for commanding the vanguard of the French fleet at the
Battle of Trafalgar The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (180 ...
. His conduct during this battle was the subject of controversy.


Family

Pierre Étienne René Marie Dumanoir Le Pelley was descended from a very old family of the Granville bourgeoisie, who had once earned a considerable fortune in maritime armaments and was ennobled by King
Louis XVIII Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent twenty-three years in ...
. His fatherManche Departmental Archive
Civil status registers (1770 - p.29)
Louis Pierre Etienne Le Pelley (1733-1807), Sieur du Manoir, was a privateer captain, shipowner and bourgeois of Granville. Pierre Dumanoir Le Pelley is the 2nd cousin of
Georges René Le Peley de Pléville Georges-René Le Peley de Pléville (29 June 1726 in Granville – 2 October 1805 in Paris) was the governor of the port of Marseilles, a French admiral, minister for the navy and the colonies from 15 July 1797 to 27 April 1798, a senator, a knig ...
(1726-1805). His mother Jeanne Élisabeth Lucas de Lezeaux (1744-1819) is the daughter of Charles Marie, squire, Lord of Lezeaux, honorary lord of Saint Pair and Saint Aubin des Préaux in the parish of
Saint-Pair-sur-Mer Saint-Pair-sur-Mer (, literally ''Saint-Pair on Sea'') is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France. See also *Communes of the Manche department The following is a list of the 446 Communes of France, communes of th ...
.


Youth and beginnings


Rapid advancement

Pierre Dumanoir Le Pelley entered the navy at the age of seventeen in March 1787 as an and served in the
Antilles The Antilles (; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Antiy; es, Antillas; french: Antilles; nl, Antillen; ht, Antiy; pap, Antias; Jamaican Patois: ''Antiliiz'') is an archipelago bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the south and west, the Gulf of Mex ...
until 1790. Appointed second lieutenant in port two years later in April 1789 he boarded the frigates ''Pomone'' and ''Néréide'', cruising off Africa. He then embarked on the fluyt ''Dromadaire'', bound for Cayenne, as an
ensign An ensign is the national flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality. The ensign is the largest flag, generally flown at the stern (rear) of the ship while in port. The naval ensign (also known as war ensign), used on warships, may be diffe ...
. Promoted to sub-lieutenant in 1790, he was appointed to the staff of Admiral
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. He served on ''Sans-Culotte''. He was not yet twenty-three years old when he was appointed Lieutenant de vaisseau in June 1793. Two years later, in Floréal year III (May 1795), at less than twenty-five years of age, he obtained the rank of
Capitaine de corvette Corvette captain is a rank in many navies which theoretically corresponds to command of a corvette (small warship). The equivalent rank in the United Kingdom, Commonwealth, and United States is lieutenant commander. The Royal Canadian Navy us ...
and command of the ''Berwick'' in Richery's squadron, which took over a large convoy in the Mediterranean Sea and was then tasked with destroying English fishing establishments in Newfoundland.


A controversial advancement

Some biographies suggest that his rapid progress could be explained by his cousin Georges-René Pléville Le Pelley. The latter, his father's first cousin, forty-four years his senior, had certainly been called to the commission of the Navy to be one of the three administrators who prepared the law of 3 brumaire year III (24 October 1794). In 1795, the
Directory Directory may refer to: * Directory (computing), or folder, a file system structure in which to store computer files * Directory (OpenVMS command) * Directory service, a software application for organizing information about a computer network's u ...
already wanted him as Minister of the Navy, but he refused. Truguet was appointed and Pléville-Le-Pelley remained under requisition from him as head of division. The Directoire finally convinced him to accept and appointed him French Minister of the Navy and the Colonies on the 1st fructidor an V (18 August 1797). However, Pléville resigned as minister on 8 Floréal year VI (27 April 1798) because of a disagreement with Bonaparte over the Egyptian campaign and after having predicted the Aboukir disaster of 2 August 1798. By the time his first cousin became minister, Dumanoir had already been a captain for two years. Like many of his counterparts, he benefited above all from the accelerated advances of the revolutionary navy, from which emigration had just taken a large number of officers.


French Directory

On 15 December 1796, a fleet of 17 ships, 14 frigates, 6 corvettes or
aviso An ''aviso'' was originally a kind of dispatch boat or "advice boat", carrying orders before the development of effective remote communication. The term, derived from the Portuguese and Spanish word for "advice", "notice" or "warning", an ...
s, 6
barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...
s and 20 transports and 21,000 soldiers, under the command of General Hoche, left Brest for the Irish expedition. Dumanoir commanded, under the orders of Rear Admiral Bouvet, the ship ''Révolution''. As soon as he left, the army found itself dislocated by the ruse of an English frigate which, in the darkness of the night of the 16th to the 17th, gave false signals to some of the French ships. Burning fires and cannon shots deceived 6 ships and 6 frigates, which continued on their way, instead of obeying the vice-admiral who ordered them to turn back. When the day came,
Morard de Galles Justin-Bonaventure Morard de Galles (30 March 1741, Goncelin, Isère – 23 July 1809, Guéret) was a French navy officer and admiral. Family Morard was born to a noble family from Dauphiné whose origins stretched right back to the end of the ...
and Hoche, mounted on the frigate ''Fraternité'', found themselves alone and headed for
Bantry Bay Bantry Bay ( ga, Cuan Baoi / Inbhear na mBárc / Bádh Bheanntraighe) is a bay located in County Cork, Ireland. The bay runs approximately from northeast to southwest into the Atlantic Ocean. It is approximately 3-to-4 km (1.8-to-2.5 mil ...
, designated for the army rendezvous. On the point of arriving there, they met the ship ''Revolution'' and the frigate '' Scévola'' sinking low in the water. Dumanoir took in part of the crew. The scattered fleet, without a leader, had headed, ship by ship, towards Bantry Bay, where the ships had waited for a few days, then, impatient, had left for the stampede. Hoche had to retreat. While the armies of the Republic won victories everywhere on the continent, England's fleets triumphed on every sea. Dumanoir was not yet twenty-seven years old when the Directory appointed him head of division in Messidor An V (July 1797). In the year VI (from 22 September 1797 to 21 September 1798), Dumanoir contributed to the preparations for the departure of the fleet for the
Egyptian campaign The French campaign in Egypt and Syria (1798–1801) was Napoleon Bonaparte's campaign in the Ottoman territories of Egypt and Syria, proclaimed to defend French trade interests, to establish scientific enterprise in the region. It was the pr ...
. On 19 May 1798, the fleet left Toulon under the command of Vice-Admiral Brueys d'Aigalliers. Rear Admiral Gantheaume was the major-general of the squadron. Three other Rear Admirals commanded the divisions of the fleet: Blanquet du Chayla led the vanguard; Villeneuve, the rearguard; Decrès, the light squadron. Dumanoir boarded the ship ''Dubois'' and was in charge of the direction of the convoy attached to the army. On 1 July 1798, the French army arrived in front of
Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...
without seeing a single enemy sail. The landings took place immediately, and the troops marched on Alexandria taken the next day. Bonaparte appointed Dumanoir commander of the port. Vice-Admiral Brueys anchored his fleet north-east of Alexandria as close as possible to the islet of
Abukir Abu Qir ( ar, ابو قير, ''Abu Qīr'', or , ), formerly also spelled Abukir or Aboukir, is a town on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt, near the ruins of ancient Canopus and northeast of Alexandria by rail. It is located on Abu Qir Penins ...
, protected by a battery. The English admiral
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arrived on 1 August 1798 in front of Abukir, where the tricolour flag was flying. Brueys believed so little on the return of the English that he had not sent any of his frigates to cross the sea to signal the appearance of the enemy. He was very surprised to see them arrive. Nothing was ready for a battle, the boats and part of the crews were ashore. The Battle of the Nile lasted two days, from 1 to 2 August 1798, and the ensuing disaster dealt a terrible blow to the esteem and power of the French navy. On 5 August of the following year, Bonaparte, who had understood that he was needed in Paris and that he would be well received there, ordered Dumanoir and Rear Admiral Gantheaume - but without putting them in his confidence - to speed up supplies to the two old Venetian frigates, ''Muiron'' and ''Corrèze'', already armed and equipped, and to give him notice of the movements of the English squadron. On 21 August 1799, Bonaparte arrived in Alexandria. On the 22nd he boarded the '' Muiron'' commanded by Larue and on the 23rd he set sail. The ''Muiron'' carried General Bonaparte, Rear Admiral Gantheaume, Berthier, Andréossy,
Monge Gaspard Monge, Comte de Péluse (9 May 1746 – 28 July 1818) was a French mathematician, commonly presented as the inventor of descriptive geometry, (the mathematical basis of) technical drawing, and the father of differential geometry. Duri ...
,
Berthollet Claude Louis Berthollet (, 9 December 1748 – 6 November 1822) was a Savoyard-French chemist who became vice president of the French Senate in 1804. He is known for his scientific contributions to theory of chemical equilibria via the mech ...
, Denon, de Lavalette and de Bourienne. Dumanoir commanded the ''Corrèze'' which had taken Lannes,
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, de Marmont and Parceval-Grandmaison on board. On 8 October 1799, Bonaparte disembarked at Fréjus.


French Consulate

The
coup of 18 Brumaire The Coup d'état of 18 Brumaire brought Napoleon Bonaparte to power as First Consul of France. In the view of most historians, it ended the French Revolution and led to the Coronation of Napoleon as Emperor. This bloodless '' coup d'état'' ...
marked the end of the
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and the
French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...
and the beginning of the
Consulate A consulate is the office of a consul. A type of diplomatic mission, it is usually subordinate to the state's main representation in the capital of that foreign country (host state), usually an embassy (or, only between two Commonwealth c ...
. On this occasion, Dumanoir received a sword as a national reward for his participation, and a few months later, at the age of twenty-nine, he was raised to the rank of Counter admiral in 1799. During the year IX (September 1800 to September 1801), he commanded several divisions in
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and then in Cadiz where he was in charge of details relating to armaments. In the spring of 1801, 4 ships from Toulon's division were sent to Cadiz to join Rear Admiral Dumanoir's divisions. This small squadron was commanded by Charles Alexandre Léon Durand de Linois, the only sailor from the Consulate and the Empire who could boast of a victory and who had fought in all the wars of
American Independence The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...
. On 3 July 1801, a short distance from
Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...
, Linois sailed towards Cadiz and seized an English brig commanded by Lord Cochrane, who informed him that a strong enemy division was blocking the port he was heading for. Admiral Sir
James Saumarez Admiral of the Red James Saumarez, 1st Baron de Saumarez (or Sausmarez), GCB (11 March 1757 – 9 October 1836) was an admiral of the British Royal Navy, known for his victory at the Second Battle of Algeciras. Early life Saumarez was b ...
was ordered to go immediately to the strait with a division of 6 ships, to oppose the passage of the French. Unwilling to take the risk of fighting an opponent much stronger than himself, Linois took up position under the ramparts of
Algeciras Algeciras ( , ) is a municipality of Spain belonging to the province of Cádiz, Andalusia. Located in the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula, near the Strait of Gibraltar, it is the largest city on the Bay of Gibraltar ( es, Bahía de Algeci ...
; the
first battle of Algeciras The First Battle of Algeciras was a naval battle fought on 6 July 1801 (17 messidor an IX of the French Republican Calendar) between a squadron of British Royal Navy ships of the line and a smaller French Navy squadron at anchor in the forti ...
began on 6 July 1801. The battle, which began at 8.15 am, continued until 2 am with equal determination on both sides. Linois' victory did not receive the reward it deserved. This victory was only the first episode of Rear Admiral Linois' expedition; his ships had suffered too much to think of continuing on to Cadiz. For his part, Admiral Saumarez, who had taken refuge in Gibraltar, was eager to repair the damage caused by such an unexpected defeat; with extraordinary speed, he repaired his ships and replaced the losses he had suffered with choice sailors. Linois was no less active in repairing his ships, but, less happy than his opponent, he was unable to procure sailors and his position became difficult. He wrote to Rear Admiral Dumanoir and Captain General Mazaredo to ask for help; it took a long time before he received an answer. Losing patience, Linois complained bitterly about their inaction. This slowness produced the results Linois had predicted; the English fleet was ready for battle when the French left Algeciras on 12 July 1801, at two o'clock in the afternoon, to reach Cadiz. The
second battle of Algeciras The Second Battle of Algeciras (also known as the Battle of the Gut of Gibraltar) was a naval battle fought on the night of 12 July 1801 (23 messidor an IX of the French Republican Calendar) between a squadron of British Royal Navy ships of ...
began and the struggle lasted a long, bitter, furious time. At half-past twelve the next day, the British squadron set sail; at two in the afternoon of the same day, the ''Formidable'', with Linois on board, was the last French ship to enter the port of Cadiz, to the shouts of enthusiasm of the people who had watched the battle from the ramparts and the beach. After the battle, Dumanoir was reprimanded for failing to reinforce Linois. As soon as the Peace of Amiens was signed on 25 March 1802, Bonaparte set about taking back the rich French colony of
Santo Domingo , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 ( Distrito Nacional) , webs ...
, which had been in revolt against France for more than eight years. It was the Santo Domingo expedition of which Dumanoir was a member. On 11 December 1803, Rear Admiral Dumanoir was made a member of the
Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
. While stranded in Toulon on the ''Formidable'', on 24 Brumaire in the year XII (16 November 1803) he asked his first cousin
Georges René Le Peley de Pléville Georges-René Le Peley de Pléville (29 June 1726 in Granville – 2 October 1805 in Paris) was the governor of the port of Marseilles, a French admiral, minister for the navy and the colonies from 15 July 1797 to 27 April 1798, a senator, a knig ...
, then a senator, who had intervened on 6 Frimaire in the year XII (28 November 1803) with de Lacépède, Grand Chancellor of the Order and also a senator.


First French Empire

The French Empire was proclaimed on 18 May 1804 by the
Constitution of the Year XII The Constitution of the Year XII (), also called the Organic Sénatus-consulte of 28 Floréal, year XII (), was a national constitution of the First French Republic adopted during the Year XII of the French Revolutionary Calendar (1804 in th ...
. Rear Admiral Dumanoir was promoted to Commander of the Legion of Honour on 14 June 1804. On the death of Admiral de Latouche-Tréville on 20 August 1804, he was aboard the '' Formidable'' and was provisionally in command of the
Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...
squadron and hoped to retain command. However, the Emperor called Vice-Admiral de Villeneuve there. A letter from Napoleon dated 28 August 1804 gives the reasons for it: In 1804, Napoleon ordered Villeneuve, now a Vice Admiral stationed at Toulon, to escape from the British blockade, overcome the British fleet in the English Channel, and allow the planned invasion of Britain to take place. To draw off the British defences, Villeneuve was to sail 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 ...
, where it was planned that he would combine with the Spanish fleet and the French fleet from Brest and attack British possessions in the Caribbean, before returning across the Atlantic to destroy the British Channel squadrons and escort the Armée d'Angleterre from their camp at Boulogne to victory in England. After an abortive expedition in January 1805, Villeneuve finally left Toulon on 29 March with eleven ships of the line. He evaded Nelson's blockade, passed the Strait of Gibraltar on 8 April and crossed the Atlantic with Nelson's fleet in pursuit, but about a month behind owing to unfavourable winds. Dumanoir was thirty-five years old; since leaving Toulon he had been part of Villeneuve's squadron as a rear admiral commanding the '' Formidable''. In the West Indies Villeneuve waited for a month at Martinique, but Admiral Ganteaume's
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fleet did not appear, being hermetically blocked there. On 11 June Villeneuve set out for Europe with Nelson again in pursuit. On 22 July Villeneuve, now with twenty ships of the line and seven frigates, passed Cape Finisterre on the northwest coast of Spain and entered the Bay of Biscay. Here he met a British fleet of fifteen ships of the line commanded by Vice Admiral Sir
Robert Calder Admiral Sir Robert Calder, 1st Baronet, (2 July 174531 August 1818) was a British naval officer who served in the Seven Years' War, the American Revolutionary War, the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. For much of his career ...
. In the ensuing Battle of Cape Finisterre, a confused action in bad visibility, the British, though outnumbered, were able to cut off and capture two Spanish ships. In this battle Dumanoir was placed behind the flagship in thirteenth position; his ship was not engaged in the cannonade. For two days Villeneuve shadowed the retreating British, but did not seek a battle. Instead he sailed to
A Coruña A Coruña (; es, La Coruña ; historical English: Corunna or The Groyne) is a city and municipality of Galicia, Spain. A Coruña is the most populated city in Galicia and the second most populated municipality in the autonomous community and s ...
, arriving on 1 August. Here he received orders from Napoleon to sail to Brest and Boulogne as planned. Instead, perhaps believing a false report of a superior British fleet in the Bay of Biscay, and against the Spanish commanders' objections, he sailed away back to
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, ...
, rendering Napoleon's planned invasion of Britain wholly impossible. Villeneuve, who had retired to Cadiz with the combined squadrons of France and Spain, learned that the Emperor had just sent Vice-Admiral de Rosily by land to replace him in his command. Secretly warned by Navy Minister Decrès, he hoped to prevent this disgrace by a bold move, and Villeneuve, until now so irresolute, took the decision to throw himself headlong into the enemy, rather than return to France with a mark of shame on his forehead. Inexperienced crews and the difficulties of getting out of Cádiz meant that it took two days to get all 34 ships out of port and in some kind of order. On 21 October 1805, Villeneuve met the English squadron at
Cape Trafalgar Cape Trafalgar (; es, Cabo Trafalgar ) is a headland in the Province of Cádiz in the southwest of Spain. The 1805 naval Battle of Trafalgar, in which the Royal Navy commanded by Admiral Horatio Nelson decisively defeated Napoleon's combined ...
. Its fleet consisted of thirty-three ships, five frigates and two brigs. Dumanoir was aboard the ship ''Formidable'', from which he commanded a division that was initially placed in the rearguard where the most appalling confusion reigned. But following a lof-for-lof transfer, his division found itself in the vanguard of the Franco-Spanish fleet and was spared by Nelson's attack which cut the centre and the rearguard. As soon as the wind allowed him, Dumanoir went to the aid of the ''Bucentaure'' and the '' Santísima Trinidad''. He found the two vessels completely dismasted. The ''Formidable'' had suffered a great deal herself and was making six feet of water an hour. Her mast was ready to fall and was only held back by the shrouds. In this situation, Dumanoir simply decided to hold the wind and sent a signal to the other ships in his fleet to do the same. Other authors write that he remained a motionless spectator even though he still had the ''Formidable'', the '' Duguay-Trouin'', the '' Scipion'' and the ''
Mont Blanc Mont Blanc (french: Mont Blanc ; it, Monte Bianco , both meaning "white mountain") is the highest mountain in the Alps and Western Europe, rising above sea level. It is the second-most prominent mountain in Europe, after Mount Elbrus, and ...
'' under his command, and that he walked away without fighting. Only the '' Intrepid'' of Captain
Infernet ''For the French navy captain, see Louis-Antoine-Cyprien Infernet. For the cruiser, see Infernet.'' ''Infernet'' is a 2016 Italian drama film. The screenplay was written by Giuseppe Ferlito, who also directed the film. It stars Roberto Farnesi, R ...
and the '' Neptuno'' of Captain Valdés disobeyed him and threw themselves into the heart of the battle, to their loss. Dumanoir's four other ships crossed at close quarters and moved away without much fighting. When he saw only English men on the battlefield and the allied squadron was no longer in sight, Dumanoir had his squadron take the western flank. Ten days passed according to the strength of the winds while the wing tried to repair the damage. The ''Formidable'', which continued to make six to seven feet of water per hour, had to throw her battery of forecastles and 22 guns out of service into the sea. Thus the ''Formidable'', in complete disrepair, and the three ships that followed her, encountered an enemy flotilla of four ships and four frigates on 5 November, under Cape Ortegal. Dumanoir fought against Commodore Strachan, lost his four ships, forced to surrender after a bloody battle lasting nearly five hours and wounded in the head, fell to the English. The ''Duguay-Trouin'', the ''Formidable'', the ''Mont Blanc'' and the ''Scipion'' were taken to Plymouth. In this fight, Dumanoir received three serious injuries. He remained for some time a prisoner on parole and returned to France in July 1806 where his conduct during the Trafalgar campaign was strongly condemned, particularly by some of the surviving captains ( Lucas, Infernet, and Villeneuve himself). He remained unassigned, was brought before a board of enquiry in December 1809, and reprimanded; he demanded to appear before a maritime war council composed of senators Fleuriot and Bougainville and admirals Thévenard and de Rosily in March 1810, he was acquitted. Dumanoir explained the retreat of his ships as a measure of prudence: "To arrive at this moment on the enemy, would have been a blow of despair which would only have resulted in increasing the number of our losses and adding to the advantage of the enemy, to whom by the dilapidation of my division I would not have been able to cause much damage". The commission concluded that : * Dumanoir had manoeuvred in accordance with the signals he had received and that he had followed the impulse of duty and honour. * That he had done what the winds and circumstances had allowed him to do to come to the rescue of the flagship. * That he had fought as closely as possible against all the ships he had dealt with. * Finally, he had only left the battle when he was forced to do so by the damage to his ship and the impossibility of manoeuvring in the state his mast was in. Napoleon refused to employ him, as he felt, like public opinion, that he was being held in contempt. However, the conclusions of the council of war held in Toulon were taken into account by Napoleon himself. In 1811, he appointed him commander of the navy at Danzig and the charge of the direction of the convoys on the
Vistula The Vistula (; pl, Wisła, ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest river in Europe, at in length. The drainage basin, reaching into three other nations, covers , of which is in Poland. The Vistula rises at Barania Góra in ...
. During the blockade of Danzig, he rendered services. After a year's siege, the square capitulated and Dumanoir, who had been wounded in the head by a bomb, was taken prisoner to
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. It was from there that he sent his support for the acts of the senate which decreed the disqualification of the Emperor and the recall of the
Bourbons The House of Bourbon (, also ; ) is a European dynasty of French origin, a branch of the Capetian dynasty, the royal House of France. Bourbon kings first ruled France and Navarre in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Spani ...
.


Bourbon Restoration

Returning to France in July 1814, he received the title of Count from King
Louis XVIII Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent twenty-three years in ...
during the first
First Restoration The First Restoration was a period in French history that saw the return of the Bourbon dynasty to the throne, between the abdication of Napoleon I in the spring of 1814 and the Hundred Days, in March 1815. The regime was born following the vict ...
by letters patent dated 2 December 1814; he was made a
Knight 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 ...
in 1815. He then commanded the naval division that led the Marquis de Rivière, Louis XVIII's ambassador to Constantinople. An order of 22 August 1816 had reduced the number of counter-admirals from 21 to 12. In 1817, in accordance with this order, the list of general officers to be retained was drawn up: Dumanoir was the first on it. On 24 April of the same year, he was raised to the dignity of Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour. Louis XVIII appointed him vice-admiral in 1819 and, on 23 August 1820, Commander of Saint-Louis. During the
Second Restoration The Bourbon Restoration was the period of French history during which the House of Bourbon returned to power after the first fall of Napoleon on 3 May 1814. Briefly interrupted by the Hundred Days War in 1815, the Restoration lasted until the J ...
, Dumanoir was elected on 22 August 1815 as deputy for the Manche département college in the "
Chambre introuvable The (French for "Unobtainable Chamber") was the first Chamber of Deputies elected after the Second Bourbon Restoration in 1815. It was dominated by Ultra-royalists who completely refused to accept the results of the French Revolution. The nam ...
" - 1st legislature from 7 October 1815 to 5 September 1816 - and sat in the centre. Re-elected on 20 September 1817 - 2nd legislature from 4 November 1816 to 24 December 1823 - he remained in office until 17 August 1822, sitting obscurely in the centre. He died suddenly in Paris during the night of 6–7 July 1829 and was buried in the
Père Lachaise cemetery Père Lachaise Cemetery (french: Cimetière du Père-Lachaise ; formerly , "East Cemetery") is the largest cemetery in Paris, France (). With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Notable figure ...
(19th division).


Honours

* Grand officier of the
Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
(24 April 1817) * Commandeur of the Order of Saint Louis


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dumanoir Le Pelley, Pierre 1770 births 1829 deaths French Navy admirals French naval commanders of the Napoleonic Wars People from Manche Grand Officiers of the Légion d'honneur