Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

Antoine Marie François Montalan (19 March 1767 – 22 March 1818) was a

French Navy The French Navy (, , ), informally (, ), is the Navy, maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of History of France, France. It is among the largest and most powerful List of navies, naval forces i ...

officer who served in the

French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (sometimes called the Great French War or the Wars of the Revolution and the Empire) were a series of conflicts between the French and several European monarchies between 1792 and 1815. They encompas ...

Early life

Montalan was born to Marguerite Gastaldy and Jean-François Montalan, an industrialist of Lyon, on 19 March 1767. He started sailing in the

Compagnie de Calonne The Compagnie de Calonne was the last iteration of the ''Compagnie des Indes'', a series of French state-sponsored ventures to compete with the British East India Company and Dutch East India Company. It was established in 1785 at the initiative ...

in 1787 as a volunteer. By 1792, Montalan has risen to the rank of Second Captain in the merchant navy.Quintin, p.285

French Revolutionary Wars

On 12 February 1792, Montalan joined the Navy as an ''

enseigne de vaisseau non entretenu ''Enseigne de vaisseau non entretenu'' (literally: "Ensign without a salary") was a junior naval rank in the French Navy during the French Revolutionary Wars, Revolutionary Wars. The duties of an ''Enseigne de vaisseau non entretenu'' were the same ...

'' (junior ensign), serving on the corvette ''Vanneau'' and later on the frigate ''Résolue''. In 1793, he was promoted to lieutenant. He was appointed to ''Galathée'' from November 1793 to March 1794, and then on ''Sans Pareil''. On 19 March 1794, Montalan received his first command, the corvette ''Tourterelle''. On 15 May 1795, ''Tourterelle'' met the British frigate ''Lively'', and

struck Struck is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Adolf Struck Adolf Hermann Struck (1877–1911) was a German sightseer and writer. He is known for his Travel literature, travelogue ''Makedonische Fahrten'' and for surveying the ...

after a four-hour battle. Montalan subsequently underwent a

court-martial A court-martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the arme ...

or the loss of his ship, and was unanimously acquitted on 20 May 1796. Promoted to Commander on 21 March 1796, Montalan was given command of ''Résolue'', and took part in the

Expédition d'Irlande The French expedition to Ireland, known in French as the ''Expédition d'Irlande'' ("Expedition to Ireland"), was an unsuccessful attempt by the French Republic to assist the outlawed Society of United Irishmen, a popular rebel Irish republica ...

as Nielly's flagship. In the night of 22 to 23 December, she accidentally collided with ''Redoutable'', losing her of her

bowsprit The bowsprit of a sailing vessel is a spar (sailing), spar extending forward from the vessel's prow. The bowsprit is typically held down by a bobstay that counteracts the forces from the forestay, forestays. The bowsprit’s purpose is to create ...

foremast The mast of a sailing vessel is a tall spar, or arrangement of spars, erected more or less vertically on the median line of a ship or boat. Its purposes include carrying sails, spars, and derricks, giving necessary height to a navigation light ...

, and

mizzen The mast of a sailing vessel is a tall spar, or arrangement of spars, erected more or less vertically on the median line of a ship or boat. Its purposes include carrying sails, spars, and derricks, giving necessary height to a navigation light ...

; only her

mainmast The mast of a sailing vessel is a tall spar, or arrangement of spars, erected more or less vertically on the median line of a ship or boat. Its purposes include carrying sails, spars, and derricks, giving necessary height to a navigation light ...

stayed upright.Roche, p. 373 the 74-gun ''Pégase'' took ''Résolue'' in tow and returned with her to Brest, where they arrived on 30 December; In 1797, Montalan took command of a frigate division comprising ''Sémillante'', ''Fraternité'' and the corvette ''Berceau'', with his flag on ''Sémillante'', ferrying General Gabriel, comte d'Hédouville to

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 1803. The name derives from the Spanish main city on the island, Santo Domingo, which came to re ...

. In 1799, he took command of another division, composed of ''Sémillante'', ''Charente'' and two

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 to bring despatches to Admiral

Étienne Eustache Bruix Admiral Étienne Eustache Bruix (17 July 1759 – 18 March 1805) was a French Navy officer and politician who served as Minister of the Navy and the Colonies from 1798 to 1799. Life Bruix was born to a family from Béarn. He started sailing ...

. On 9 April 1799, ''Sémillante'' along with ''Vengeance'' and ''Cornélie'', encountered and fought and off

Belle Île Belle-Île (), Belle-Île-en-Mer (), or Belle Isle (, ; ) is a French island off the coast of Brittany in the ''département in France, département'' of Morbihan, and the largest of Brittany's islands. It is from the Quiberon peninsula. Admini ...

.''The Naval History of Great Britain, 1793 - 1820'', Volumes II and IV, by

William James William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher and psychologist. The first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States, he is considered to be one of the leading thinkers of the late 19th c ...

, R. Bentley, London, 1837. The engagement was indecisive, with the French ships escaping up the Loire. The British suffered three men killed and 35 wounded. After the decommissioning of ''Sémillante'' on 19 July 1802, Montalan was appointed to captain ''Vertu'' in September. Commanding a frigate division, he was sent to

to recapture

Gonaïves Gonaïves (; also Les Gonaïves; , ) is a commune in northern Haiti, and the capital of the Artibonite department of Haiti. The population was 356,324 at the 2015 census. History The city of Gonaïves was founded around 1422 by a group of T ...

from Black rebels. He was promoted to Captain 2nd Class on 24 September 1803. After the British

blockade of Saint-Domingue The blockade of Saint-Domingue was a naval campaign fought during the first months of the Napoleonic Wars in which a series of British Royal Navy squadrons blockaded the French-held ports of Cap-Français and Môle-Saint-Nicolas on the norther ...

resulted in the capitulation of General Donatien de Rochambeau in December 1803, Montalan was taken to

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

as a prisoner of war, and eventually returned to France the next year.

Napoleonic Wars

In 1808, Montalan was appointed to command ''Robuste''. In April 1809, he transferred to ''Génois'', which he captained until 1814. Montalan died on 22 March 1818.Quintin, p.286

Sources and references

References

Bibliography

* Fonds Marine. Campagnes (opérations; divisions et stations navales; missions diverses). Inventaire de la sous-série Marine BB4. Tome premier : BB4 1 à 482 (1790-1826

* * (1671-1870) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Montalan, Antoine Marie François 1767 births 1818 deaths French Navy officers French naval commanders of the Napoleonic Wars Officers of the Legion of Honour