René Lemarant de Kerdaniel (; 10 August 1777, in
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 ...
– 4 October 1862 in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
Les capitaines de vaisseau
thierry.pouliquen.free.fr) was a French naval officer who rose to the rank of admiral
Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of ...
.
Career
French Revolution
Born to the family of an administrator of the Navy, Lemarant joined the Navy as a boy in 1790, aged just 13. He sailed on ''Rhône'', which was wrecked on Toulinguet rock; the crew was rescued only after twenty-seven hours. He then transferred to the frigate . He later served on the flûte ''Barbeau'', which later ferried troops to San Domingo.
Back at Lorient on 25 June 1793, Lemarant studied to be admitted as a naval student 2nd class. After passing the exam on 1 May 1794, he was appointed to ''Montagne'', Villaret de Joyeuse's flagship. On ''Montagne'' he took part in the Third Battle of Ushant, where he was promoted to student 1st class. He then transferred to the frigate ''Fraternité'', under contre-amiral Joseph-Marie Nielly.
In 1796, Lemarant was appointed to command the lugger ''Surveillante'', a captured British privateer.
On 7 July 1797, he was promoted to ensign, and transferred to ''Sirène''. The frigate sailed to Cayenne, and on 17 December 1799 on her journey back captured , a former East Indiaman
East Indiamen were merchant ships that operated under charter or licence for European trading companies which traded with the East Indies between the 17th and 19th centuries. The term was commonly used to refer to vessels belonging to the Bri ...
. Lemarant was given command of the prize, but chased ''Calcutta'' and recaptured her the same day. Lemarant was taken to England and spent four months on a hulk
The Hulk is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the debut issue of ''The Incredible Hulk (comic book), The Incredible Hulk ...
in Chatham, before being sent back to France on parole. The Peace of Amiens
The Treaty of Amiens (, ) temporarily ended hostilities between France, the Spanish Empire, and the United Kingdom at the end of the War of the Second Coalition. It marked the end of the French Revolutionary Wars; after a short peace it set t ...
freed him from the parole.
Lemarant was then appointed to command the corvette , bound for Martinique. In 1803, he carried the news that the War of the Third Coalition
The War of the Third Coalition () was a European conflict lasting from 1805 to 1806 and was the first conflict of the Napoleonic Wars. During the war, First French Empire, France and French client republic, its client states under Napoleon I an ...
had broken out. He stayed in the Indian Ocean until August 1804, before returning to France, where he was notified of his promotion to Lieutenant on 26 October 1803.
First Empire
In late 1804, he was appointed to the 74-gun , on which he took part 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 ...
.
In July 1808, Lemarant de Kerdaniel was promoted to Commander, and served as an aid to minister Denis Decrès.
In 1809, he took command of the ''Astrée'' and sailed to Île de France
Ile or ILE may refer to:
Ile
* Ile, a Puerto Rican singer
* Ile District (disambiguation), multiple places
* Ilé-Ifẹ̀, an ancient Yoruba city in south-western Nigeria
* Interlingue (ISO 639:ile), a planned language
* Isoleucine, an amino aci ...
to reinforce the frigate squadron under Hamelin
Hameln ( ; ) is a town on the river Weser in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Hameln-Pyrmont and has a population of roughly 57,000. Hamelin is best known for the tale of the Pied Piper of Hamelin.
History
Hameln ...
, where he witnesses the last stages of the Battle of Grand Port
The Battle of Grand Port was a naval battle fought on 20–27 August 1810 between squadrons of frigates from the French Navy and the British Royal Navy over possession of the harbour of Grand Port on Île de France (now Mauritius), as part of ...
and helped sealing the fate of the last remaining British frigate. With the freshly captured ''Iphigénie'', the ''Astrée'', as well as the corvette ''Victor'' and the brig ''Entreprenant'', Lemarant sailed to patrol off Ile Bourbon, notably taking part in the capture of HMS ''Africaine'' in the action of 13 September 1810. After the Invasion of Île de France, in line with the terms of capitulation, he was sent back to France by the British.
On 20 December 1810, Lemarant was promoted to Captain. On 1 February, he was appointed to the command of ''Marengo''.
Bourbon Restoration
At the Bourbon Restoration Bourbon Restoration may refer to:
France under the House of Bourbon:
* Bourbon Restoration in France (1814, after the French revolution and Napoleonic era, until 1830; interrupted by the Hundred Days in 1815)
Spain under the Spanish Bourbons:
* Ab ...
, ''Marengo'' was used as a troop ship to ferry the soldiers that were to take back possession of Martinique and Guadeloupe.
Back to Brest in 1815, Lemarant refused to take any part in the Hundred Days
The Hundred Days ( ), also known as the War of the Seventh Coalition (), marked the period between Napoleon's return from eleven months of exile on the island of Elba to Paris on20 March 1815 and the second restoration of King Louis XVIII o ...
, but was nevertheless sidelined by the Bourbons until 1817, when he was given command of ''Hector''. He later commanded the frigate ''Cléopâtre'' in a squadron under contre-amiral Duperré.
In 1823, captaining the frigate ''Guerrière'', he cruised off Spain during the invasion by the Hundred Thousand Sons of Saint Louis
The "Hundred Thousand Sons of Saint Louis" was the popular name for a French army mobilized in 1823 by the Bourbon King of France, Louis XVIII, to help the Spanish Bourbon royalists restore King Ferdinand VII of Spain to the absolute power ...
. On 9 August, he was sent off Algeciras with ''Galathée'', taking part in the capture of the city, and later in the capture of Cadix. At the end of the campaign, he was promoted to contre-amiral and made a Baron in reward of his conduct.
In 1826, he commanded the Brazil station on ''Surveillante'', where he stayed until 1829.
In 1831, he was made Préfet maritime
A maritime prefect ( French: ''Préfet maritime'') is a servant of the French government who exercises authority over the sea in a particular region known as a maritime prefecture (''Préfecture maritime''). As of , there are three maritime prefec ...
of Cherbourg, and was promoted to vice-amiral on 22 January 1836. In 1842, he entered the Council of the Admiralty, and became its vice-president.
In 1845, having reached the retirement age, he was put in the reserve.
René Lemarant de Kerdaniel died in Paris on 4 October 1862.
Honours
* Grand officer 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 ...
.
* Knight of the Order of Saint Louis
The Royal and Military Order of 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 reward for exceptional officers, notable as the fi ...
.
Notes
Citations
References
*
* 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
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lemarant de Kerdaniel, Rene
1777 births
1862 deaths
French Navy admirals
French naval commanders of the Napoleonic Wars
Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery
Hundred Thousand Sons of Saint Louis