Corentin Urbain de Leissègues (29 August 1758[1][2] – 26 March 1832[3]) was a French Navy officer who served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He is best known for commanding the French fleet which was defeated at the Battle of San Domingo in 1806.
Biography
editLeissègues joined the Navy in 1778, at age 20. He served on the frigate Oiseau and took part in patrol in the English Channel, before being transferred on the Nymphe.[4] In 1780, he was promoted to 'lieutenant de frégate' and joined the Magicienne.[5]
In 1781, Leissègues served under Suffren and took part in the campaigns of the Franco-Indian alliances. He received a wound at the head during the Battle of Providien.
From 1785, Leissègues served in the North Sea on the frigate Vigilante.[6] Promoted to 'sous-lieutenant de vaisseau', he served in the Indian Ocean aboard the frigate Méduse from 1787 to 1791.[7] He took his first command with the brig Furet, off Newfoundland.
Leissègues was promoted to Captain in early 1793 and put in command of a convoy bound for Windward Islands. Arriving at Guadeloupe, he found the island in British hands, and launched a 4-month campaign to re-take it. He was subsequently promoted to 'contre-amiral'.
Upon his return to France, Leissègues was put in charge of harbour inspection from Saint-Malo to Vlissingen. He was then given command of the harbours of Ostend, Vlissingen, and Antwerp, as well of the naval forces stationed near Walcheren.
Leissègues later led a naval division to Northern Africa to reduce attacks by Barbary corsairs. He managed to obtain assurances in Algiers and Tunis, bringing back presents and the ambassador of Tunis to Paris. The same years, he ferried General Brune to Constantinople.
In 1806, Leissègues led a five-ship squadron to reinforce Santo Domingo. A British squadron led by Vice-Admiral John Thomas Duckworth intercepted the convoy, and destroyed it in the ensuing Battle of San Domingo.
On 7 April 1809, Leissègues was put in charge of the defence of Venice. He was tasked to provide for Corfu, where he stayed until the surrender of the island to the Allies, in 1814, upon orders of Louis XVIII.
Leissègues returned to Toulon in August 1814. He served under the Bourbon Restoration until 1818, rising to vice-admiral.
Honours
edit- Commander of the Order of Saint Louis
- Commander of the Legion of Honour[8]
References
edit- ^ Henrion, Mathieu Richard Auguste (1834). Annuaire biographique, ou supplément annuel et continuation de toutes les biographies ou dictionnaires historiques: contenant la vie de tous les hommes célèbres par leurs écrits .... Années 1830 - 1834 (in French). Méquignon ; Lagny. p. 109. Retrieved 24 October 2024.
- ^ Bonnefoux, Pierre-Marie-Joseph baron de (1900). Mémoires du bon de Bonnefoux, capitaine de vaisseau 1782-1855 (in French). Plon-Nourrit et cie. p. 189. Retrieved 24 October 2024.
- ^ Napoléon, Revue des études napoléoniennes (in French). F. Alcan. 1918. p. 65. Retrieved 24 October 2024.
- ^ Mullié, Charles (1850). Biographie des célébrités militaires des armées de terre et de mer de 1789 à 1850. 2. G-WUR / par C. Mullié,... (in French). Paris: Poignavant. p. 209. Retrieved 24 October 2024.
- ^ Biographie bretonne: recueil de notices sur tous les Bretons qui se sont fait un nom (in French). Cauderan. 1857. p. 264. Retrieved 24 October 2024.
- ^ Frond, Victor (1868). Histoire de la marine française au XIXe siècle: Portraits-Biographies-Autographes (in French). A. Pilon. p. 23. Retrieved 24 October 2024.
- ^ Liévyns, A. (1844). Fastes de la Légion-d'honneur: biographie de tous les décorés accompagnée de l'histoire législative et réglementaire de l'ordre (in French). au bureau de l'administration. p. 345. Retrieved 24 October 2024.
- ^ "LEISSEIGUES DE CORENTIN". www.leonore.archives-nationales.culture.gouv.fr. Retrieved 24 October 2024.