Jacques Cassard (30 September 1679 – 1740) was a French naval officer and privateer.
Biography
Born on 30 September 1679 to a family of merchants of Nantes, Cassard began a career as a sailor at age 14 on the merchantmen owned by his family. In January 1697, he joined the French Navy on bombship ''Éclatante''.
In 1700, Cassard became a merchantman captain. The next year, 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, Phili ...
broke out, and Cassard converted to a
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 ...
. In 1705, he captained the privateer ''Saint Guillaume'', capturing 12 merchantmen and raiding
Cork. Two years later, he captured 13 merchantmen with the ''Duchesse Anne'', earning a rank in the Navy.
In 1709, Cassard, promoted to Commander, was tasked to escort a 25-ship food convoy on the 68-gun
''Éclatant''. On 29 April, supported by
''Sérieux'', he defeated five English ships, allowing the convoy to safely reach
Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fran ...
.
The next year, Cassard lead a squadron comprising the 74-gun
''Parfait'', the 58-gun
''Sérieux'' and the 50-gun
''Phénix'' and the 60-gun
''Sirène'', with his flag on ''Parfait''. He was tasked to escort an 84-ship convoy inbound from
Smyrna
Smyrna ( ; grc, Σμύρνη, Smýrnē, or , ) was a Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to promi ...
that had become blockaded at
Syracuse by a British fleet. He captured
HMS ''Pembroke'', while ''Sérieux'' secured the surrender of the 32-gun
HMS ''Falcon'' in the 9 November
Battle of Syracuse. The convoy reach
Toulon.
In 1711, Cassard again secured the way for a 43-ship convoy bound for
Pensacola.
In December 1711, Cassard obtained the command of a 6-ship squadron and embarked on
an expedition in which he raided English, Dutch and Portuguese colonies in
Cape Verde
, national_anthem = ()
, official_languages = Portuguese
, national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole
, capital = Praia
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, demonym ...
and in the
Caribbean.
On 10 October 1712, Cassard captured the plantation of
Meerzorg in
Suriname
Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...
for France, and threatened
Paramaribo across the
Suriname River. Negotiations started, and on 27 October Cassard left with ƒ747,350 (€8.1 million in 2018) worth of goods and slaves.
After the
Treaty of Utrecht
The Peace of Utrecht was a series of peace treaties signed by the belligerents in the War of the Spanish Succession, in the Dutch city of Utrecht between April 1713 and February 1715. The war involved three contenders for the vacant throne of ...
and the end of the war in 1713, Cassard started numerous trials to obtain payments.
Cassard retired in 1731. In 1736, he was declared insane after insulting the
Cardinal de Fleury, and detained in
Ham, where he died four years later.
Honours
*
Knight of the Order of Saint Louis (1719)
* Numerous ships of the French Navy named
''Cassard'' after him
* A Sea scout group (
Scouts et Guides de France) is named after him in
Nantes
Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabit ...
See also
*
Cassard expedition
References
External links
* Edward Phillips Statham
Privateers and Privateering- Cambridge University Press, 2011, , Chapter XV "Jacques Cassard", pages 229-240
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cassard, Jacques
French privateers
French naval commanders in the War of the Spanish Succession
1679 births
1740 deaths
Military personnel from Nantes
Knights of the Order of Saint Louis