Louis-Charles-Henri Bertin (September 15, 1752 – April 26, 1822) was a French civil official who served as the first Colonial Prefect of

Martinique Martinique ( ; or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It was previously known as Iguanacaera which translates to iguana island in Carib language, Kariʼn ...

and

St. Lucia Saint Lucia is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. Part of the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of Saint Vincent (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines), Saint Vincent ...

Biography

Bertin was born in

Louisbourg Louisbourg is an unincorporated community and former town in Cape Breton Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia. History The harbour had been used by European mariners since at least the 1590s, when it was known as English Port and Havre à l'An ...

Île-Royale The Salvation Islands ( French: ''Îles du Salut'', so called because the missionaries went there to escape plague on the mainland), sometimes mistakenly called the Safety Islands, are a group of small islands of volcanic origin about off the co ...

(modern Cape Breton), in 1752 to Louis Bertin, a surgeon, and Marie-Anne Bertrand. Following France's loss of Louisbourg to the English, the Bertin family removed to Rochefort, France. As an adult, Bertin served as a senior civil servant in the Ministry of the Navy, which was charged with overseeing mercantile shipping, naval operations, and overseas colonies. Around 1792, Bertin served as a

commissaire-ordonnateur An ''ordonnateur'' or ''commissaire-ordonnateur'' in the French colonial era was responsible for fiscal matters in a colony, as opposed to the governor, who was responsible for the military. The relationship between the two heads was often tense. ...

for French naval forces in the Mediterranean, notably in 1793 aboard the Tonnant. By 1798, he had risen to the chief civilian officer for the Port of Bordeaux, before being transferred on July 12, 1798, to the Port of

Toulon Toulon (, , ; , , ) is a city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the French Riviera and the historical Provence, it is the prefecture of the Var (department), Var department. The Commune of Toulon h ...

. Bertin next served as the first

maritime prefect A maritime prefect ( French: ''Préfet maritime'') is a servant of the French government who exercises authority over the sea in a particular region known as a maritime prefecture (''Préfecture maritime''). As of , there are three maritime prefec ...

for

Le Havre Le Havre is a major port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the Seine, river Seine on the English Channel, Channe ...

from July 1800 to May 1801. At the port, he focused on construction of the bassin de la Barre, a system of locks to ease movement between the outer harbor and the bassin des Capucins, employing some 250 diggers and 60 stonecutters to complete the work. In September 1801, Bertin was promoted to counselor of the state for the navy, and was replaced as maritime prefect by Bourdon de Vatry.

In Martinique

In 1802, with the signing of the

Treaty of Amiens The Treaty of Amiens (, ) temporarily ended hostilities between France, the Spanish Empire, and the United Kingdom at the end of the War of the Second Coalition. It marked the end of the French Revolutionary Wars; after a short peace it set t ...

, Martinique and St. Lucia were restored to France after six years of British control. Bertin, in May 1802, was named the first colonial prefect of the colony, arriving in Martinique on 18 Messidor X (July 7, 1802). Bertin shared control of the island with Rear Admiral

Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse Vice-Admiral Louis-Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse (29 May 1747Granier, p.87Some biographers give a date of 1750 (Levot, p.541). Granier quotes the registers of Sainte-Marie parish. – 24 July 1812Levot, p.544) was a French Navy officer and poli ...

as captain general and Le sieur Lefessier-Grandpré as grand judge. Bertin reported that the inhabitants of Martinique were happy to be once again under French rule, as he moved to establish hospitals and barracks and to refurbish military batteries and fortifications. Bertin also stressed the need to resume trade with

Metropolitan France Metropolitan France ( or ), also known as European France (), is the area of France which is geographically in Europe and chiefly comprises #Hexagon, the mainland, popularly known as "the Hexagon" ( or ), and Corsica. This collective name for the ...

. In February 1803, Bertin ordered work to begin on the creation of the Jardin colonial des Plantes de Saint-Pierre. In 1803, France once again declared war on England. Bertin sought support for the island from the United States by opening the ports of Martinique to neutral ships, but this proved ineffective in the face of the British maritime blockade. In 1804, Bertin was replaced by Pierre-Clément de Laussat, who had lost his position as colonial prefect of Louisiana following the sale of the territory to the United States. Bertin retired to France and to private life.

Legacy

in Saint-Pierre bears his name.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bertin, Charles-Henri 1752 births 1822 deaths French governors of Martinique