René Duguay-Trouin
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René Trouin, Sieur du Gué, usually called Réné Duguay-Trouin, (Saint Malo, 10 June 1673 -- 1736) was a famous French privateer, Lieutenant-Général des armées navales du roi (admiral) and Commander in the Order of Saint-Louis.
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[edit] Early career
His family operated a shipping business in Saint Malo, a port favoured by corsairs.
At sixteen he joined the navy aboard the Trinité, under Captain Legoux, on the 16 December 1690. The Trinité subsequently captured the François Samuel and Seven Stars of Scotland. Duguay-Trouin displayed such bravery that he was handed command of the Danycan, soon after he turned 18.
On the 6 June 1692, the King handed him command of a forty-gun ship, the Hermine. He captured five ships at the entrance of the Channel.
[edit] Nobility
Louis XIV handed him a sword of honour in 1694, and made him a nobleman in 1709, with the motto Dedit haec insignia virtus ("Bravery gave him nobility"). At the time, he had captured 16 warships and over 300 merchantmen from the English and Dutch.
On the 12 April 1694, Duguay-Trouin, aboard the ship Diligente, covered the escape of a convoy which he was escorting but was defeated by a six-ship squadron commanded by Admiral David Mitchell. The Diligente, barely afloat and having lost most of her men, was forced to strike her colours and surrender. He was taken as prisoner to Plymouth.
The English admiralty, upon learning that Trouin had fired upon the Prince of Orange while flying the English flag, had him locked in an iron room. On the 19 June 1694, he made an adventurous escape, by capturing a small ship to which he had had bought by a friendly Swedish captain whose ship was lying nearby. He was accompanied by Lieutenant Nicolas Thomas, surgeon Lhermite, Pierre Legendre and the quartermaster. He landed in Brittany and returned to Saint-Malo.
In 1697, the Peace of Ryswick put a halt to the privateers and Duguay-Trouin spent his time in Saint-Malo with women. He was involved in a duel with a gentleman, Charles Cognetz, who had allegedly cheated in a game of cards. Both were taken to the police officer, M de Vauborel, who explicitly forbade any further violence.
[edit] War of the Spanish Succession
In 1702, as the War of the Spanish Succession broke out, Duguay-Trouin commanded the Bellone and the Railleuse. He became an officer in the French Royal Navy.
On the 21 September 1711, in an 11-day battle, he captured Rio de Janeiro, then believed impregnable, with seven ships and 3200 men, in spite of the defence consisting of seven ships of the line, seven forts and 12 000 men; he held the governor for ransom. Investors in this venture doubled their money, and Duguay-Trouin earned a promotion to Lieutenant général de la Marine.
[edit] Late career
In his late career, he commanded the fleet based in Saint-Malo, then the fleet based in Brest, the fleet for the East and eventually Toulon harbour. He died in 1736, after having written to Fleury to ask Louis XIV to support his family.
[edit] Trivia
- Ten ships of the French Navy were named in his honour (see French ship Duguay-Trouin)
- Duguay-Trouin is mentioned in Volme II, "Within A Budding Grove", of Marcel Proust's early twentieth century Masterpiece of French Literature, "In Search of Lost Time" (previously published as "A Remembrance of Things Past"). The reference occurs in an interlude section of the work entitled "Place Names: the Place" juxtaposed with other Impressionistic images. This reference specifically compares the brave image of the warrior's statue with the banal image of ordinary people eating sorbets in a bakery, illustrating that at that time Duguay-Tourin's influence on French society was still so pervasive that statues of his form were commonplace, easily identifiable and even taken for granted throughout France and were instantly recognizable to the French citizenry fully two hundred years after his life.
