Pierre-Paulin Gourrège (; 9 June 1749 in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

— 27 October 1805 near Cadiz) was a French Navy officer and captain.

Career

Gourrège started his career in the merchant Navy in 1749, rising to assistant pilot the next year, to lieutenant in 1772 and earning his commission of captain in 1777. In 1791, he became captain in the

National Guard National guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. ...

, and was appointed Lieutenant in the Navy on 1 July 1792, taking command of the frigate '' Fraternité'' on 13 November 1793.Quintin, p. 157 With ''Fraternité'', he cruised from Brest off Southern Spain before transferring on ''

Brutus Marcus Junius Brutus (; ; 85 BC – 23 October 42 BC) was a Roman politician, orator, and the most famous of the assassins of Julius Caesar. After being adopted by a relative, he used the name Quintus Servilius Caepio Brutus, which was reta ...

''. On 21 March 1796, Gourrège was promoted to Commander, and to Captain on 22 September. On 10 November, he was appointed to '' Coquille'', supervised the commissioning of ''

Indienne ''Indienne'' (, ; , ), was a type of printed or painted textile manufactured in Europe between the 17th and the 19th centuries, inspired by similar textile originally made in India (hence the name). They received various other names in French s ...

'' at the Havre from 20 October 1797, and took command of ''

Créole Creole may refer to: Anthropology * Alaskan Creole people, people descended from the inhabitants of colonial Alaska before it became a part of the United States during the period of Russian rule * Creole peoples, ethnic groups which originate ...

'' on 12 April 1799. After taking part in an abortive sortie with the division under ''contre-amiral''

Lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...

, where ''Créole'' sustained some damage in a collision with '' Fidèle'', Gourrège took part in

Ganteaume's expeditions of 1801 Ganteaume's expeditions of 1801 were three connected major French Navy operations of the spring of 1801 during the French Revolutionary Wars. A French naval squadron from Brest under ''Contre-amiral'' Honoré Ganteaume, seeking to reinforce the ...

. During the cruise,Troude (p.228) lists Gourrège as captain of ''Indivisible'' at the departure of the fleet on 27 January, probably mistakenly. he was appointed to the 80-gun '' Indivisible'', which he commanded during the action of 24 June 1801, where she and '' Dix-Août'' captured HMS ''Swiftsure''. Gourrège commanded the ''

Jean Bart Jean Bart (; ; 21 October 1650 – 27 April 1702) was a Flemish naval commander and privateer. Early life Jean Bart was born in Dunkirk in 1650 to a seafaring family, the son of Jean-Cornil Bart (c. 1619–1668) who has been described various ...

'' from 5 September 1801, and the ''

Aigle Aigle ( French for "eagle", ; ) is a historic town and a municipality and the capital of the district of Aigle in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. The official language of Aigle is Swiss French. Geography Aigle lies at an elevation of a ...

'' from 28 November 1802. In 1803, he served off

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, ferrying troops from

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to Cap-Français and performing an amphibious landing at

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, before returning to Cadiz. On 5 February 1804, he was made a Knight in the order of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

, and promoted to Officer on 14 June. On ''Aigle'', he reinforced the Franco-Spanish fleet during the

Trafalgar Campaign The Trafalgar campaign was a long and complicated series of fleet manoeuvres carried out by the combined French Navy, French and Spanish Navy, Spanish fleets; and the opposing moves of the Royal Navy during much of 1805. These were the culmina ...

and took part in the Battle of Cape Finisterre and in the

Battle of Trafalgar The Battle of Trafalgar was a naval engagement that took place on 21 October 1805 between the Royal Navy and a combined fleet of the French Navy, French and Spanish Navy, Spanish navies during the War of the Third Coalition. As part of Na ...

, where he was mortally wounded at the outbreak of the fight possibly by mistake by fire from '' Principe de Asturias''. ''Aigle'' was captured during the battle, recaptured afterwards by her own crew, who had mutinied against the British, but ultimately wrecked near Cadiz. Gourrège died of his injuries six days after the battle.

Sources and references

Notes

References

Bibliography

* *
GOURREGE (Pierre-Paulin) (1749 – 1805)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gourrege 1749 births 1805 deaths French Navy officers French military personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars French naval commanders of the Napoleonic Wars