The Dupleix was a steam and sail corvette

Corvette

A corvette is a small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship, originally smaller than a frigate and larger than a coastal patrol craft or fast attack craft , although many recent designs resemble frigates in size and role...

 of the French Marine Nationale

French Navy

The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...

. She was the first French vessel named after the 18th Century Governor of Pondichéry and Gouverneur Général of the French possessions in India marquess

Marquess

A marquess or marquis is a nobleman of hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The term is also used to translate equivalent oriental styles, as in imperial China, Japan, and Vietnam...

 Joseph François Dupleix

Joseph François Dupleix

Joseph-François, Marquis Dupleix was governor general of the French establishment in India, and the rival of Robert Clive.-Biography:Dupleix was born in Landrecies, France...

.

After her commissioning, the Dupleix was sent to the Chinese Sea under vice-admiral Jaures. She arrived in Saigon on the 25 August 1862, and made short stops in Ryukyu Islands

Ryukyu Islands

The , also known as the , is a chain of islands in the western Pacific, on the eastern limit of the East China Sea and to the southwest of the island of Kyushu in Japan. From about 1829 until the mid 20th century, they were alternately called Luchu, Loochoo, or Lewchew, akin to the Mandarin...

 and the port of Hakodate on the island of Hokkaidō

Hokkaido

, formerly known as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso, is Japan's second largest island; it is also the largest and northernmost of Japan's 47 prefectural-level subdivisions. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaido from Honshu, although the two islands are connected by the underwater railway Seikan Tunnel...

, before arriving in Yokohama

Yokohama

is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...

.

Bombardment of Shimonoseki

During the bombardment of Shimonoseki

Bombardment of Shimonoseki

The Battles for Shimonoseki refers to a series of military engagements in 1863 and 1864, fought to control Shimonoseki Straits by joint naval forces from the Great Britain, France, the Netherlands and the United States, against the Japanese feudal domain of Chōshū, which took place off and on the...

 (5 September 1864), the Dupleix was second in the line of corvettes, between the British Tartar and the Dutch Metallkruz. She fired 411 shots and received 22 cannonballs (seven in the hull, four under the waterline, and 11 in the sails). She had two killed and eight wounded. On the 28 December 1864, the Dupleix sailed back to France, where she was decommissioned on the 25 June 1865.

She was re-commissioned in Cherbourg in 1867, and sent back to serve in the "Far-East Naval Division", under counter-admiral Ohier. She arrived in Yokohama

Yokohama

is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...

 in February 1868, and was immediately involved in the events of the Japanese Revolution

Boshin War

The was a civil war in Japan, fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and those seeking to return political power to the imperial court....

.

Sakai incident

On the 8 March 1868, a skiff sent to Sakai

Sakai, Osaka

is a city in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It has been one of the largest and most important seaports of Japan since the Medieval era.Following the February 2005 annexation of the town of Mihara, from Minamikawachi District, the city has grown further and is now the fourteenth most populous city in...

 was attacked by samurai retainers of the daimyo

Daimyo

is a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in pre-modern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...

 of Tosa

Tosa Province

is the name of a former province of Japan in the area that is today Kōchi Prefecture on Shikoku. Tosa was bordered by Iyo and Awa Provinces. It was sometimes called .-History:The ancient capital was near modern Nankoku...

; 11 sailors and Midshipman Guillou were killed (a monument in Kobe

Kobe

, pronounced , is the fifth-largest city in Japan and is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture on the southern side of the main island of Honshū, approximately west of Osaka...

 is now erected to their memory). The captain Dupetit Thouars protested so strongly that the culprits were arrested, and 20 of them were sentenced to death by seppuku

Seppuku

is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. Seppuku was originally reserved only for samurai. Part of the samurai bushido honor code, seppuku was either used voluntarily by samurai to die with honor rather than fall into the hands of their enemies , or as a form of capital punishment...

. However, the execution style was so shocking to the French that after 11 were carried out, the French captain requested grace for the survivors. This allowed the French and Japanese parties to reconcile, and is now known as the "Sakai incident

Sakai incident

The was the killing of 11 French sailors from the French corvette Dupleix in the port of Sakai near Osaka, Japan in 1868.On March 8, 1868, a skiff sent to Sakai was attacked by samurai of the Tosa clan; 11 sailors and Midshipman Guillou were killed...

", or Sakai Jiken (堺事件).

On the 16 April 1868, the Dupleix was the first Western ship to salute the Emperor at Fort Tempozan.

In October of the same year, the Dupleix was sent to Edo

Edo

, also romanized as Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of the Japanese capital Tokyo, and was the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868...

. She rescued the British corvette
, which was shipwrecked at Romanzoff Bay, in La Perouse Strait

La Perouse Strait

La Pérouse Strait is a strait dividing the southern part of the Russian island of Sakhalin from the northern part of the Japanese island of Hokkaidō, and connecting the Sea of Japan on the west with the Sea of Okhotsk on the east....

.

Hokkaidō

Replaced in Edo by the cruiser Coëtlogon, the Dupleix was stationed in the northern port of Hakodate during the Battle of Hakodate

Battle of Hakodate

The was fought in Japan from October 20, 1868 to May 17, 1869, between the remnants of the Tokugawa shogunate army, consolidated into the armed forces of the rebel Ezo Republic, and the armies of the newly formed Imperial government...

, in order to guarantee French interests there. She brought back captain Jules Brunet

Jules Brunet

Jules Brunet was a French officer who played an active role in Mexico and Japan, and later became a General and Chief of Staff of the French Minister of War in 1898...

 and his companions from Hakodate to Yokohama after the fall of the Republic of Ezo

Republic of Ezo

The ' was a short-lived state established by former Tokugawa retainers in what is now known as Hokkaidō, the large but sparsely populated northernmost island in modern Japan.-Background:...

.

From July 1870 to February 1871, the Dupleix blockaded the German corvette Hertha in Nagasaki as part of operations during the Franco-Prussian War

Franco-Prussian War

The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...

. In March, the Dupleix sailed back to Cherbourg to be de-commissioned.

From 1876 to 1886, the Dupleix was re-armed every year from March to October to monitor fishery operations in Iceland

Iceland

Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

. She was struck in 1887.