Henri Nicol

Henri Paul Hipolito Nicol was an officer of the

French Navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...

in the 19th century. Based on the ship ''Minerva'' of the French Oriental Fleet, he deserted when the ship was anchored at

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...

harbour, with his friend

Eugène Collache Eugène Collache (29 January 1847 in Perpignan – 25 October 1883 in Paris) was French Navy officer who fought in Japan for the ''shōgun'' during the Boshin War. Arrival in Japan Eugène Collache was an officer of the French Navy in the 19t ...

to rally other French officers, led by

Jules Brunet Jules Brunet (2 January 1838 – 12 August 1911) was a French military officer who served the Tokugawa shogunate during the Boshin War in Japan. Originally sent to Japan as an artillery instructor with the French military mission of 1867, he refu ...

, who had embraced the cause of the

Bakufu , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakura ...

in the Boshin War. Nicol was a classmate of Collache as the Ecole Navale, France's Military Academy, where he had learnt some Japanese. KaitenMaru

Nicol participated to the Naval Battle of Miyako, when three Bakufu warships were dispatched for a surprise attack against Imperial forces. He was on the ''Kaiten'' together with the samurai warriors, the

Shinsengumi The was a special police force organized by the (military government) during Japan's Bakumatsu period (late Tokugawa shogunate) in 1863. It was active until 1869. It was founded to protect the shogunate representatives in Kyoto at a time wh ...

. The other ships were the ''Banryu'' and the ''Takao''. Nicol had been selected for the main attack on the ''Kaiten'' because he was a native of

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...

, and happened to know well about the characteristics and construction of the revolutionary warship ''Kotetsu'', built in the same city. To create surprise, the ''Kaiten'' entered Miyako harbour with an American flag, and the ''Banryu'' with a Russian one. They raised the Bakufu flag seconds before boarding the ''Kotetsu''. The ''Kotetsu'' managed to repel the attack with a

Gatling The Gatling gun is a rapid-firing multiple-barrel firearm invented in 1861 by Richard Jordan Gatling. It is an early machine gun and a forerunner of the modern electric motor-driven rotary cannon. The Gatling gun's operation centered on a cy ...

gun, with huge loss on the attacking side. Nicol was severely wounded in the leg and arm. The two rebel warships escaped back to Hokkaido however, but the ''Takao'' was pursued and wrecked herself voluntarily. After the reddition of the Bakufu forces and the end of the conflict, Nicol was sent back to France with the other French officer. He was judged for treason, but condemned lightly. He was soon drafted as a private soldier in the Franco-Prussian War, but died in the conflict at the age of 24. {{DEFAULTSORT:Nicol, Henri French Navy officers French expatriates in Japan People of the Boshin War French military personnel of the Franco-Prussian War French military personnel killed in action