Jean-Jacques Magendie (21 May 1766 in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

– 26 March 1835 in

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) was a French Navy officer. He famously captained the flagship ''Bucentaure'' at the

Battle of Trafalgar The Battle of Trafalgar was a naval engagement that took place on 21 October 1805 between the Royal Navy and a combined fleet of the French Navy, French and Spanish Navy, Spanish navies during the War of the Third Coalition. As part of Na ...

Biography

Early career

Magendie joined the French Royal Navy in 1781 as an apprentice, and later sailed on merchant ships, raising to second captain and distinguishing himself to the point where he was mentioned in a June 1793 meeting of the

National Convention The National Convention () was the constituent assembly of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for its first three years during the French Revolution, following the two-year National Constituent Assembly and the ...

. He was brought into Navy service with the rank of ensign and given command of a cutter patrolling off the coasts of England and Ireland.''Dictionnaire des capitaines de vaisseau de Napoléon'', Danielle & Bernard Quintin, SPM, 2003, In 1794, he captained the cutter ''Ranger'', and the corvette ''Espion''Quintin (p. 251) gives the name ''Espoir'' instead of ''Espion'', apparently in error as they state she was captured by in March 1795. A ''Hasard''-class brig ''Espoir'' was in commission at the time, but she was not captured on 2–3 March 1795. from July. On 4 March 1795, the British frigate captured ''Espion'' about 13 leagues off Ushant. Released, Magendie returned to France, where the court-martial acquitted him for the loss of his ship. On 28 September 1795, he married Raimonde Deschazeau.

Frigate captain

In March 1796, he was promoted to commander, and in September received the command of the ''Tartu''. He took part in the early stages of the Expédition d'Irlande, but on 5 January 1797, ''Tartu'' she was captured by HMS ''Polyphemus''. Magendie was again taken prisoner. He returned to France in September 1798, and was again cleared of any wrongdoing in the less of his ship. He then served as first officer on the brand new ''Africaine'', under captain Pierre-Félix de Lapalisse. Upon her return, ''Africaine'' joined up with ''Régénérée'' and was put under the command of captain Saunier. Tasked with ferrying ammunition for the Armée d'Orient. Split from ''Régénérée'' by a storm, ''Africaine'' encountered HMS ''Phoebe'', under Captain Robert Barlow, east of

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

. ''Phoebe'', which had the

weather gage The weather gage (sometimes spelled weather gauge or known as nautical gauge) is the advantageous position of a fighting sailing vessel relative to another. The concept is from the Age of Sail and is now antique. A ship at sea is said to possess ...

, overtook ''Africaine'' and engaged her at close range, despite the French soldiers, who augmented the frigate's guns with their

musket A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating plate armour. By the mid-16th century, this type of musket gradually dis ...

fire. ''Phoebe's'' guns inflicted more than 340 casualties on the soldiers and seaman of ''Africaine'' before she

struck Struck is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Adolf Struck Adolf Hermann Struck (1877–1911) was a German sightseer and writer. He is known for his Travel literature, travelogue ''Makedonische Fahrten'' and for surveying the ...

at 9:30PM. Magendie sustained a head injury and was captured for the third time. Released from Minorca, Magendie returned to France in March 1801. In September, he was given command of the ''Minerva'' in Napoli, sailed her to Toulon where she took the name ''Sibylle'', and from then took part in a variety of missions. He distinguished himself during the capture of Santo Domingo, earning the provisory rank of captain. After returning to France, he sailed to Naples to surrender his frigate to the Napolitan government, as ordered.

Trafalgar campaign

In October 1803, Magendie was tasked to supervise the commissioning of ''Bucentaure''. After she entered service, he became her captain and flag officer to

Vice-Admiral Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral. Australia In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of vic ...

Latouche Tréville, who died on board on 18 August 1804, and then to Vice-Admiral Villeneuve. Magendie then took part in the

Trafalgar Campaign The Trafalgar campaign was a long and complicated series of fleet manoeuvres carried out by the combined French Navy, French and Spanish Navy, Spanish fleets; and the opposing moves of the Royal Navy during much of 1805. These were the culmina ...

, notably the Battle of Cape Finisterre. Magendie captained ''Bucentaure'' at the

, where he was wounded in the mouth and captured.p163-7, Goodwin ''The Ships of Trafalgar, the British, French and Spanish Fleets October 1805'' Released on parole in February 1806, he returned to France, where he worked at the Ministry of the Navy.

Peninsula wars

In December 1807, he was sent to Lisbon and tasked with supervising the naval activities of the harbour. In August 1808, by the Convention of Sintra, the defeated French troops were allowed to return to France and Magendie was ferried on HMS ''Nymphe''. He worked in various duties on shore and at the ministry until October 1810, when he was again sent to besieged Lisbon to command the naval forces there. The city did not fall, however, and Magendie stayed in Portugal until June 1811. He supervised the commissioning of ''Trajan'', before commanding the ''Ajax'' in Toulon. In February 1812, he took part in a skirmish between three ships of the line and two frigates against one ship and two frigates.

Late career and retirement

At the Bourbon Restoration, ''Ajax'' was decommissioned and Magendie was task with the supervision of Toulon harbour. During the

Hundred Days The Hundred Days ( ), also known as the War of the Seventh Coalition (), marked the period between Napoleon's return from eleven months of exile on the island of Elba to Paris on20 March 1815 and the second restoration of King Louis XVIII o ...

, ''Ajax'' was reactivated with Magendie for captain. He was consequently dismissed from the Navy at the Second Restoration, and retired. From 1821, he directed a steamboat service between Paris and Le Havre.

Honours

* Officer of the Legion of Honour. * Knight of the Order of Saint Louis. * Order of the Lily.

Notes

Citations

References

* * (1671-1870) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Magendie, Jean-Jacques French Navy officers 1766 births 1835 deaths