César-Joseph Bourayne
Encyclopedia
Counter Amiral des Armées Navales
César-Joseph de Bourayne, later Baron Bourayne, (22 February 1768 – 5 November 1817) was a French naval officer, famous for his battles against British ships in the Indian Ocean and South China Sea. He was appointed Counter Admiral
in 1814, having been made a Baron in 1811.
A street in Brest
bears his name, as does a bay and port of the island of Huahine
in French Polynesia
.
. Auguste was part of the fleet of the Comte de Grasse, which operated in the Atlantic against the British during the American Revolutionary War
. He participated in the various actions of this campaign including the critical victory at the Battle of the Chesapeake
, and the decisive defeat at The Battle of the Saintes
. In the 10 years that followed, he continued his training in many engagements in the Caribbean, Africa, Red Sea, Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia.
during the scientific expedition of Rosily
. In August 1792 he was commissioned as an officer serving on the frigate Meduse.
By 1793 he had been promoted to lieutenant and served under Charles Linois on the 36-gun frigate Atalante. On 7 May 1794, while hunting for British merchantmen off the coast of Ireland, Atalante and accompanying corvette Levrette came across a convoy protected by two British ships of the Line, HMS Swiftsure
and HMS St Albans
. The British ships moved to intercept, and though Levrette escaped, Atalante was taken after a 48-hour chase. Bourayne was wounded in the action
and taken prisoner. He was paroled in the Bantry Bay area for 19 months before he was returned to France in October 1795.
Borayne went on to serve under Admiral Villaret de Joyeuse
in the Irish Sea and Caribbean.
In 1800 Bourayne was promoted to Capitaine de fregate
, and commanded the frigate Fidele from June of that year. On 18 July 1803 he received his promotion to Captaine de vaisseau
, on taking command of the recently recaptured 40-gun frigate Minerve
, which was now renamed Canonniere.
. Hindostan remained with the fleet while her larger companion engaged Canonniere. The action that followed was described by English naval historian William James as “a lesson to officers, who find themselves suddenly assailed by a decidedly superior force”. By use of skillful seamanship, accurate gunnery and aggressive defence, Bourayne's frigate was able to engage the more powerful ship throughout a day long chase, before making good her escape. A token attempt to engage by the Indiaman Charlton was contemptuously ignored.
After effecting as much repairs as possible at sea, Bourayne steered for Simon's Bay, an allied Dutch anchorage. Unknown to him however, it had recently been seized by the English. In a ruse common to marine warfare, the English forts and shipping at the bay flew the Dutch colours, and so Bourayne sent a boat to shore. At this point the forts changed their colours and began to bombard the frigate. The Canonniere stood out to sea, escaping major damage, but the lieutenant and men aboard the boat were taken prisoner.
Bourayne then set off for Manila, where he could properly repair his ship. He was asked there by the Governor of the Philippines to fetch a large sum of money from Acapulco, across the Pacific ocean in the Viceroyalty of New Spain. This mission was carried out over a six month round trip, and he continued to operate in the Pacific until making a return to the Isle de France in 1808.
In September 1808, the British 22-gun frigate HMS Laurel arrived off Isle de France, and soon after recaptured a Portuguese ship which had been taken as a prize by the French. Under a flag of truce, the captain of Laurel requested a boat to be sent out from Port Louis to retrieve French ladies captured on board the prize. On board the boat went an officer of Canonniere, to reconnoitre the capabilities of the English ship. Bourayne was satisfied she was no match for Canonniere, and so set out to capture her. This he did, after a notably spirited defence from the smaller frigate.
Bourayne continued to cruise the Indian ocean, capturing HMS Discovery ( ? ), before returning to Isle de France in 1809. The Canonniere was found there to be now in such a state of disrepair that she was renamed Confiance and sent back to France as a semi-armed merchantman, with Bourayne aboard as a passenger. Very near to her destination however, she was spotted and taken by the 74-gun HMS Valiant, and so Bourayne found himself a captive for the second time.
Counter Admiral
Counter admiral is a rank found in many navies of the world, but no longer used in English-speaking countries, where the equivalent rank is rear admiral...
César-Joseph de Bourayne, later Baron Bourayne, (22 February 1768 – 5 November 1817) was a French naval officer, famous for his battles against British ships in the Indian Ocean and South China Sea. He was appointed Counter Admiral
Counter Admiral
Counter admiral is a rank found in many navies of the world, but no longer used in English-speaking countries, where the equivalent rank is rear admiral...
in 1814, having been made a Baron in 1811.
A street in Brest
Brest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...
bears his name, as does a bay and port of the island of Huahine
Huahine
Huahine is an island located among the Society Islands, in French Polynesia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean. It is part of the Leeward Islands group . The island has a population of about 6,000.-Geography:...
in French Polynesia
French Polynesia
French Polynesia is an overseas country of the French Republic . It is made up of several groups of Polynesian islands, the most famous island being Tahiti in the Society Islands group, which is also the most populous island and the seat of the capital of the territory...
.
Origins and youth
Born in Brest on 22 February 1768, Caesar Bourayne was the 5th child of a family of 13, including two naval officers and two navy commissioners, which earned their mother the nickname "the mother to the seamen”. In 1781, at 13 years old, he embarked on the 80-gun ship of the line Auguste, commanded by the famous captain Louis Antoine de BougainvilleLouis Antoine de Bougainville
Louis-Antoine, Comte de Bougainville was a French admiral and explorer. A contemporary of James Cook, he took part in the French and Indian War and the unsuccessful French attempt to defend Canada from Britain...
. Auguste was part of the fleet of the Comte de Grasse, which operated in the Atlantic against the British during the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
. He participated in the various actions of this campaign including the critical victory at the Battle of the Chesapeake
Battle of the Chesapeake
The Battle of the Chesapeake, also known as the Battle of the Virginia Capes or simply the Battle of the Capes, was a crucial naval battle in the American War of Independence that took place near the mouth of Chesapeake Bay on 5 September 1781, between a British fleet led by Rear Admiral Sir Thomas...
, and the decisive defeat at The Battle of the Saintes
Battle of the Saintes
The Battle of the Saintes took place over 4 days, 9 April 1782 – 12 April 1782, during the American War of Independence, and was a victory of a British fleet under Admiral Sir George Rodney over a French fleet under the Comte de Grasse forcing the French and Spanish to abandon a planned...
. In the 10 years that followed, he continued his training in many engagements in the Caribbean, Africa, Red Sea, Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia.
Early career as an officer
In 1791, Bourayne was commissioned as an officer and served aboard the 38-gun frigate VenusFrench frigate Vénus (1782)
The Vénus was an 38-gun Hébé class frigate of the French Navy.In the summer of 1782, Vénus operated as a transport between Rochefort and Île de Ré...
during the scientific expedition of Rosily
François Étienne de Rosily-Mesros
François Étienne de Rosily-Mesros was a French naval commander of the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. He is notable as being chosen by Napoleon to succeed Villeneuve as commander of the combined Franco-Spanish fleet at Cádiz fleet, arriving to take up his appointment just after its...
. In August 1792 he was commissioned as an officer serving on the frigate Meduse.
By 1793 he had been promoted to lieutenant and served under Charles Linois on the 36-gun frigate Atalante. On 7 May 1794, while hunting for British merchantmen off the coast of Ireland, Atalante and accompanying corvette Levrette came across a convoy protected by two British ships of the Line, HMS Swiftsure
HMS Swiftsure (1787)
HMS Swiftsure was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She spent most of her career serving with the British, except for a brief period when she was captured by the French during the Napoleonic Wars...
and HMS St Albans
HMS St Albans (1764)
HMS St Albans was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 12 September 1764 at Blackwall Yard, London.She served in the American War of Independence from 1777 and was part of the fleet that captured St Lucia and won victories at Battle of St. Kitts and The Saintes...
. The British ships moved to intercept, and though Levrette escaped, Atalante was taken after a 48-hour chase. Bourayne was wounded in the action
Action of 7 May 1794
The Action of 7 May 1794 was a minor naval action fought between a British ship of the line and a French frigate early in the French Revolutionary Wars. The French Navy sought to disrupt British trade by intercepting and capturing merchant ships with roving frigates, a strategy countered by...
and taken prisoner. He was paroled in the Bantry Bay area for 19 months before he was returned to France in October 1795.
Borayne went on to serve under Admiral Villaret de Joyeuse
Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse
Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse was a French admiral.-Early career:Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse was born in Auch, in the heart of Gascony. The Villaret de Joyeuse family figured among the minor nobility from Languedoc...
in the Irish Sea and Caribbean.
In 1800 Bourayne was promoted to Capitaine de fregate
Frigate Captain
Frigate captain is a naval rank in the naval forces of several countries.It is, usually, equivalent to the Commonwealth/US Navy rank of commander.Countries using this rank include Argentina and Spain , France , Belgium , Italy ,...
, and commanded the frigate Fidele from June of that year. On 18 July 1803 he received his promotion to Captaine de vaisseau
Ship-of-the-Line Captain
Ship-of-the-line captain is a rank that appears in several navies...
, on taking command of the recently recaptured 40-gun frigate Minerve
French frigate Minerve (1794)
The Minerve was a 40-gun frigate of the French Navy. She was captured twice by the British and recaptured once by the French. She therefore served under four names:*Minerve, 1794–1795*HMS Minerve, 1795–1803*Canonnière, 1803–1810...
, which was now renamed Canonniere.
As captain
On 14 November 1805, Canonniere sailed from Cherbourg to reinforce Linois at Isle de France in the Indian Ocean. When Linois was not to be found there, Bourayne sailed in search of him off the cape of good hope. It was here that he fell in with a fleet of British Indiamen on 21 April. Escorting the convoy was the 74-gun ship-of-the-line Tremendous and the 50-gun HindostanHMS Hindostan (1804)
HMS Hindostan was a 50-gun two-decker fourth rate of the Royal Navy. She was originally a teak-built East Indiaman named Admiral Rainier that the Royal Navy brought into service in May 1804...
. Hindostan remained with the fleet while her larger companion engaged Canonniere. The action that followed was described by English naval historian William James as “a lesson to officers, who find themselves suddenly assailed by a decidedly superior force”. By use of skillful seamanship, accurate gunnery and aggressive defence, Bourayne's frigate was able to engage the more powerful ship throughout a day long chase, before making good her escape. A token attempt to engage by the Indiaman Charlton was contemptuously ignored.
After effecting as much repairs as possible at sea, Bourayne steered for Simon's Bay, an allied Dutch anchorage. Unknown to him however, it had recently been seized by the English. In a ruse common to marine warfare, the English forts and shipping at the bay flew the Dutch colours, and so Bourayne sent a boat to shore. At this point the forts changed their colours and began to bombard the frigate. The Canonniere stood out to sea, escaping major damage, but the lieutenant and men aboard the boat were taken prisoner.
Bourayne then set off for Manila, where he could properly repair his ship. He was asked there by the Governor of the Philippines to fetch a large sum of money from Acapulco, across the Pacific ocean in the Viceroyalty of New Spain. This mission was carried out over a six month round trip, and he continued to operate in the Pacific until making a return to the Isle de France in 1808.
In September 1808, the British 22-gun frigate HMS Laurel arrived off Isle de France, and soon after recaptured a Portuguese ship which had been taken as a prize by the French. Under a flag of truce, the captain of Laurel requested a boat to be sent out from Port Louis to retrieve French ladies captured on board the prize. On board the boat went an officer of Canonniere, to reconnoitre the capabilities of the English ship. Bourayne was satisfied she was no match for Canonniere, and so set out to capture her. This he did, after a notably spirited defence from the smaller frigate.
Bourayne continued to cruise the Indian ocean, capturing HMS Discovery ( ? ), before returning to Isle de France in 1809. The Canonniere was found there to be now in such a state of disrepair that she was renamed Confiance and sent back to France as a semi-armed merchantman, with Bourayne aboard as a passenger. Very near to her destination however, she was spotted and taken by the 74-gun HMS Valiant, and so Bourayne found himself a captive for the second time.