Jean Henri Joseph Dupotet (; 17 December 1777, in

Chaugey Chaugey () is a commune in the Côte-d'Or department in eastern France. Population See also *Communes of the Côte-d'Or department The following is a list of the 698 communes of the Côte-d'Or department of France. The communes coo ...

– 9 January 1852, in Paris) was a French navy commander who participated in 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 ...

as a young lieutenant and later became a vice-admiral.

Career

Dupotet was born the first son of a 10-sibling family. He joined the Navy as a sailor at age 16. From May 1795, he served aboard the 32-gun ''Alceste''. Dupotent distinguished himself on 7 August 1795, when the squadron of ''Alceste'' attacked and captured the 74-gun HMS ''Berwick''. He was promoted to midshipman 3rd class and transferred to the ''Unité''. On 20 April 1796, ''Unité'' was captured at

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by HMS ''Inconstant'', and Dupottet was taken prisoner. Returned to France, he was promoted to ensign on 3 March 1798. He took part in the Cruise of Bruix, and served on the ''Argonaute'' for a campaign at the

Leeward Islands The Leeward Islands () are a group of islands situated where the northeastern Caribbean Sea meets the western Atlantic Ocean. Starting with the Virgin Islands east of Puerto Rico, they extend southeast to Guadeloupe and its dependencies. In Engl ...

. Upon his return, he was promoted to lieutenant, and served as second in command aboard the ''Redoutable'', taking part in the

. Released after the battle, he was promoted to

frigate captain Frigate captain is a naval rank in the naval forces of several countries. Corvette captain lies one level below frigate captain. It is usually equivalent to the Commonwealth/US Navy rank of commander. Countries using this rank include Argenti ...

and served as an aid to Denis Decrès. In 1807, he commanded the ''Charlemagne'' and

Flushing Flushing may refer to: Places Netherlands * Flushing, Netherlands, an English name for the city of Vlissingen, Netherlands United Kingdom * Flushing, Cornwall, a village in Cornwall, England * The Flushing, a building in Suffolk, England ...

harbour. In 1809, he took command of the 44-gun ''Niémen'', bound for Bordeaux, only to run into a British frigate squadron blockading Brest. In the resulting Action of 6 April 1809, ''Niémen'' was captured and Dupotet taken prisoner again. Dupotet remained a prisoner for 5 years before returning to France at the

Bourbon restoration Bourbon Restoration may refer to: France under the House of Bourbon: * Bourbon Restoration in France (1814, after the French revolution and Napoleonic era, until 1830; interrupted by the Hundred Days in 1815) Spain under the Spanish Bourbons: * Ab ...

. In July 1815, he was given command of the ''Flore''. He subsequently commanded the ''Gloire'' and the ''Jeanne d'Arc'', flagship of the Caribbean squadron. From 1830 and 1834, by then a rear-admiral, Dupotet was governor of Martinique. In 1839, he commanded the

French blockade of the Río de la Plata The French blockade of the Río de la Plata was a two-year-long naval blockade imposed by France on the Argentine Confederation ruled by Juan Manuel de Rosas. It closed Buenos Aires to naval commerce. It was imposed in 1838 to support the Peru ...

, and negotiated with

Juan Manuel de Rosas Juan Manuel José Domingo Ortiz de Rozas y López de Osornio (30 March 1793 – 14 March 1877), nicknamed "Restorer of the Laws", was an Argentine politician and army officer who ruled Buenos Aires Province and briefly the Argentine Confedera ...

the next year. He is mentioned in the correspondence of

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...

. Dupotet was promoted to vice-admiral in 1841, and served as general inspector of the harbours of the Atlantic from 1844. He retired in 1845 and died seven years later. He is buried in

Père Lachaise Cemetery Père Lachaise Cemetery (, , formerly , ) is the largest cemetery in Paris, France, at . With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Buried at Père Lachaise are many famous figures in the ...

(39th Division, 9th rank, M, 31).DUPOTET Jean Henri Joseph (1777-1852)
, Association des Amis et Passionnés du Père-Lachaise

References

External links

Le Vice-Amiral Jean-Henry Dupotet, un illustre Châtillonnais.
Conference by Jenry Camus. {{DEFAULTSORT:Dupotet, Jean 1777 births 1852 deaths French Navy admirals