Jean-Baptiste du Casse (2 August 1646 – 25 June 1715) was a French

privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

, admiral, and

colonial administrator Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their relig ...

who served throughout the

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during the 17th and 18th centuries. Likely born 2 August 1646 in

Saubusse Saubusse (; oc, Saubuça) is a commune in the Landes department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. Its population has increased from 616 in 1975 to 1,113 inhabitants in 2018. The church of Saubusse was built in the 13th Century unde ...

, near Pau ( Béarn), to a

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

family, du Casse joined the French merchant marine and served in the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

and the slave-trading Compagnie du Sénégal. Later, he joined the French Navy and took part in several victorious expeditions during the

War of the League of Augsburg The Nine Years' War (1688–1697), often called the War of the Grand Alliance or the War of the League of Augsburg, was a conflict between Kingdom of France, France and a European coalition which mainly included the Holy Roman Empire (led by t ...

in the West Indies and Spanish South America. During the

War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phil ...

, he participated in several key naval battles, including the Battle of Málaga and the siege of Barcelona. For his service, he was made a knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece by King Philip V of Spain. In the midst of these wars, he was Governor of the colony of Saint-Domingue from 1691 to 1703. He ended his military career at the rank of

Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

of the naval forces (the highest naval military rank at the time in France, equivalent of a modern vice-admiral) and Commander of the Royal and Military Order of Saint Louis. He died on 25 June 1715 in

Bourbon-l'Archambault Bourbon-l'Archambault is a spa town and a commune in the Allier department in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in central France. It is the place of origin of the House of Bourbon. Population Personalities In 1681, Louise Marie Anne de Bourbon, ...

Auvergne Auvergne (; ; oc, label= Occitan, Auvèrnhe or ) is a former administrative region in central France, comprising the four departments of Allier, Puy-de-Dôme, Cantal and Haute-Loire. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Au ...

Origins and Family

As fixed spellings of surnames was not yet common practice in his time, du Casse's surname has a variety of different spellings. The spelling of ''du Casse'' is from his birth record, but other records show ''Ducasse'', ''Ducas'', and ''Du Casse''. His grand-nephew, Robert, who wrote a biography of Jean-Baptiste in 1876, spells both his great-uncle's and his own as ''du Casse''. Uncertainty exists around the birth of du Casse. Though he is usually said to have been born on 2 August 1646 in

, near

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( Landes), the son of Bertrand Ducasse, a Bayonne ham merchant, and Marguerite de Lavigne, he was actually born in Pau to Jacques Ducasse and Judith Remy. His father Jacques was the son of Gaillard Ducasse, a minister in the

Reformed Church of France The Reformed Church of France (french: Église réformée de France, ERF) was the main Protestant denomination in France with a Calvinist orientation that could be traced back directly to John Calvin. In 2013, the Church merged with the Evangel ...

, which designated the family as

Huguenots The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

. Because Huguenots were persecuted at this time in France, and their career prospects were limited, it is thought that du Casse forged his baptismal record to hide his Huguenot and ignoble background. Early biographers, including his grand-nephew and Saint-Simon, perpetuated this error in their works. Du Casse admitted his family's religious background in a letter to Naval Minister Pontchartrain in 1691, and local records from Pau also support the Huguenot origins of the du Casse family. He renounced his

Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

faith in 1685, however, after

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Ver ...

revoked the

Edict of Nantes The Edict of Nantes () was signed in April 1598 by King Henry IV and granted the Calvinist Protestants of France, also known as Huguenots, substantial rights in the nation, which was in essence completely Catholic. In the edict, Henry aimed pr ...

via the

Edict of Fontainebleau The Edict of Fontainebleau (22 October 1685) was an edict issued by French King Louis XIV and is also known as the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The Edict of Nantes (1598) had granted Huguenots the right to practice their religion without s ...

. He married Marthe (de) Baudry (1661-1743) on 16 Mar 1686 in

Dieppe Dieppe (; Norman: ''Dgieppe'') is a coastal commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. Dieppe is a seaport on the English Channel at the mouth of the river Arques. A regular ferry service runs to N ...

. She came from a family closely tied to banking and colonial trade. They had one daughter, Marthe du Casse, who married Louis de La Rochefoucauld, Marquis de Roye (1672-1751). Her father offered a dowry of 1,200,000 livres, an incredible sum at the time. Marthe and Louis had a son, Jean-Baptiste de La Rochefoucauld de Roye, who became a naval officer and led the ill-fated Duc d'Anville Expedition.

Career

Africa and the Slave Trade

He went into the slave trade with the ''Compagnie de Sénégal'', sailing between Africa and the Caribbean. With the money he earned from the slave trade he bought a ship in Saint-Domingue and began a career as a privateer. He eventually sailed to France and offered half of his loot to the Crown; for this he was appointed Lieutenant in the French Navy by

War of the League of Augsburg

In 1687 he tried to conquer

Elmina Elmina, also known as Edina by the local Fante, is a town and the capital of the Komenda/Edina/Eguafo/Abirem District on the south coast of Ghana in the Central Region, situated on a bay on the Atlantic Ocean, west of Cape Coast. Elmina w ...

, and in June 1689 he attacked Berbice and Fort Zeelandia in Surinam. He attacked

St. Christopher Saint Christopher ( el, Ἅγιος Χριστόφορος, ''Ágios Christóphoros'') is venerated by several Christian denominations as a martyr killed in the reign of the 3rd-century Roman emperor Decius (reigned 249–251) or alternatively u ...

shortly afterward alongside

Jean Fantin Jean Fantin (fl. 1681–1689) was a French pirate active in the Caribbean and off the coast of Africa. He is best known for having his ship stolen by William Kidd and Robert Culliford. History The ship ''Le Trompeuse'' (The Trickster) passed thro ...

, during which Fantin's handful of English crew (led by

William Kidd William Kidd, also known as Captain William Kidd or simply Captain Kidd ( – 23 May 1701), was a Scottish sea captain who was commissioned as a privateer and had experience as a pirate. He was tried and executed in London in 1701 for murder a ...

and Robert Culliford) mutinied and stole Fantin's ship. In 1691, he was appointed governor of

St Domingue Saint-Domingue () was a French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1804. The name derives from the Spanish main city in the island, Santo Domingo, which came to refer ...

, and gained the respect of the buccaneers of the island. In the following months he plundered the English colonies in the vicinity, including Port Royal which had just been struck by a devastating earthquake. In 1694, his forces were defeated at Carlisle Bay, and he withdrew to St Domingue.C.V. Black, ''History of Jamaica'' (London: Collins, 1975), pp. 74-5. In 1697, under Baron de Pointis he successfully raided the South American city of Cartagena de Indias, but did not receive the promised 1/5 share of the loot. He then sailed to France, to claim his share from King

in person. In fact he and his men received a compensation of 1.4 Million Francs. Furthermore, he was promoted to admiral and made a knight in the order of Saint Louis.

War of the Spanish Succession

In later years he performed and committed a number of notable acts. In 1702, he defeated

John Benbow Vice-Admiral John Benbow (10 March 16534 November 1702) was an English officer in the Royal Navy. He joined the navy aged 25 years, seeing action against Algerian pirates before leaving and joining the merchant navy where he traded until the ...

near Santa Marta in what is known as the

action of August 1702 The action of August 1702 was an inconclusive naval battle that took place from 19–25 August 1702 O.S. between an English squadron under Vice-Admiral John Benbow and a French under Admiral Jean du Casse, off Cape Santa Marta on the coast of ...

. Two years later he fought in the vanguard on the ''Intrépide'' during the

Battle of Vélez-Málaga A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

. In 1708, while in Spanish service, he commanded the

Spanish treasure fleet The Spanish treasure fleet, or West Indies Fleet ( es, Flota de Indias, also called silver fleet or plate fleet; from the es, label=Spanish, plata meaning "silver"), was a convoy system of sea routes organized by the Spanish Empire from 1566 to ...

during its annual voyage, suffering very few losses (a rarity at the time). For this he was awarded the Order of the Golden Fleece, the highest Spanish award possible. In 1714 he commanded the French fleet during the Siege of Barcelona.

Governorship of Saint-Domingue

He was governor of Saint-Domingue from 1691 to 1703. He died on 25 June 1715 in the town of

In popular culture

In the video game '' Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag'', Du Casse's nephew serves as one of the antagonists and the first boss. In the game, his name is Julien, and is 33 at his time of death in 1715, coincidentally the same year his uncle died as well. This character took to sea at a young age and fought alongside his real life uncle in the War for Spanish Succession, before deserting in favor of a brief tenure as a slave trader and subsequently as a mercenary prior to the game's start. He was one of the Templars in the game, while he was accompanied by

Woodes Rogers Woodes Rogers ( 1679 – 15 July 1732) was an English sea captain, privateer, slave trader and, from 1718, the first Royal Governor of the Bahamas. He is known as the captain of the vessel that rescued marooned Alexander Selkirk, whose ...

and

Laureano de Torres y Ayala Laureano de Torres y Ayala (1645–1722), Marquis of Casa Torres and Knight of Santiago, was a Spanish military officer and royal governor of '' La Florida'' (1693–1699) and of Cuba (1708–1711 and 1713–1716). During his administration in Flo ...

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Casse, Jean Baptiste Du 1646 births 1715 deaths People from Bayonne French Navy admirals French privateers French naval commanders in the War of the Spanish Succession Knights of the Order of Saint Louis Knights of the Golden Fleece of Spain Governors of Saint-Domingue People of Saint-Domingue 18th-century pirates French slave traders