Aristide Aubert du Petit Thouars
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Aristide Aubert du Petit Thouars (1760-1798) was a French naval officer, and a hero of the Battle of Aboukir, where he died.
He was born on August 31, 1760, in the castle of Boumais, near Saumur. He studied at the Collège Royal de La Flèche, and entered the French Navy in 1778. He participated that same year to the Battle of Ouessant. In 1719, he participated to the conquest of Saint-Louis du Sénégal.
He then served in the Antilles, under Guichen against Rodney on the 80-gun La Couronne. He was at the Battle of the Saintes.
He was promoted to Lieutenant (Lieutenant de Vaisseau) in 1792. He left that year onboard the 12-gun brick Le Diligent, in search of La Perouse. In Brazil, he was emprisonned by the Portuguese, but liberated in 1793. After that he lived for three years in the United States.
Back in France, he was reintegrated (he had been destituted as an aristocrat), and was promoted to Captain, commander of Le Tonnant at the Battle of Aboukir, where he died on August 2, 1798. During the battle, he forced the Bellerophon to lower her flag, and forced the Majestic to break off combat. After having lost both arms and a leg, he continued to command from a bucket filled with wheat, until he died.
[edit] Familly
- His older brother, Louis-Marie Aubert du Petit-Thouars, was a famous botanist.
- His nephew, Abel Aubert Dupetit Thouars, was a Navy captain who took possession of Tahiti for France.
- His descendant, Abel Nicolas Bergasse Dupetit-Thouars participated to the Boshin War in Japan.
