Abel Aubert du Petit-Thouars
Abel Aubert du Petit-Thouars | |
---|---|
Born | La Fessardière, near Saumur, France | 3 August 1793
Died | 16 March 1864 Paris, France | (aged 70)
Allegiance | France |
Service/ | French Navy |
Years of service | 1804–1858 |
Rank | Vice-Admiral |
Abel Aubert du Petit-Thouars (3 August 1793 – 16 March 1864) was a French naval officer important in France's annexation of French Polynesia.
Early life
He was born at the castle of La Fessardière, near Saumur. His uncle Aristide Aubert du Petit-Thouars was one of the heroes of the Battle of the Nile. He joined the French Navy in 1804, where he was a cabin boy in the Boulogne fleet.
He was the captain of the Inconstant from 1823 to 1825. He sailed her to Brazil, and remained her captain on station in Brazil. He was promoted to Commander (Capitaine de frégate) in 1824.
Du Petit-Thouars frequently travelled to Algeria, and had a decisive role in the conquest of Algiers, where he developed the attack plans. During the battle, he commanded the 20-gun Griffon.
He was later put in charge of the Southern Seas command, in the Pacific Ocean. In 1834 he played a key role in protecting French shipping interests against the Peruvians.
He became "Capitaine de vaisseau" on 6 January 1834, and accomplished a circumnavigation between 1836 and 1839 on the frigate
He was made Rear-
Du Petit-Thouars became a Vice-Admiral (French: Vice-amiral) in 1846.
Retirement and death
Du Petit-Thouars retired from the navy in 1858.
He died in Paris in 1864.
Children
He had no children, but adopted the son of his sister, known as Abel-Nicolas Bergasse du Petit-Thouars, who also became an Admiral, and played an important role during the Boshin War in Japan.
Botany
Admiral du Petit-Thouars was a significant enough botanist to have his name given an official abbreviation. The standard author abbreviation A.Thouars is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.[3]
Family
His grand-uncles:
- Louis-Marie Aubert du Petit-Thouars (1758–1831), French botanist.
- Aristide Aubert du Petit-Thouars (1760–1798), French Navy officer, hero of the Battle of the Nile.
His nephew and adopted son:
- Abel-Nicolas Bergasse du Petit-Thouars (1832–1890), French Navy admiral who participated to the Boshin War in Japan.
Animals named in his honor
References
- ^ http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k63374343 Gallica
- ^ Patricia O'Brien “Think of Me as a Woman: Queen Pomare of Tahiti and Anglo-French Imperial Contest in the 1840s Pacific”, Gender and History, Vol. 18 No. 1 April 2006: 108-129 http://www.citeulike.org/article/957356 Archived 2015-02-22 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ International Plant Names Index. A.Thouars.
Further reading
- (in French) Granier, Hubert, Histoire des marins français 1815–1870: La marche vers la République. Nantes: Marines Éditions, 2002. ISBN 2-909675-72-6
External links
- Biography
- Spanish Abel Aubert du Petit-Thouars in Mazatlan.
- The Dupetit Thouars family
- Adorning the world: art of the Marquesas Islands, an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Abel Aubert du Petit-Thouars (nos. 8,37,46-48)