Charles - Alexandre Léon Durand Linois Charles - Alexandre Léon Durand , Comte de Linois ( 27 January 1761 – 2 December 1848 ) was a French admiral during the time of Napoleon Bonaparte . He won a victory over the British at the Battle of Algeciras in 1801 and was reasonably successful in a campaign against British trade in the Indian Ocean and South China Sea in 1803 . Biography . Born in Brest , Linois joined the French Navy in 1776 , serving in the English Channel and Spanish waters , followed by voyages to Isle de France ( now Mauritius ) and Réunion and the French West Indies . He was promoted to lieutenant in 1789 before being posted to the Indian Ocean . After his return to France in 1794 , he was based in Brest . Linois was captured by the Royal Navy at the Action of 7 May 1794 while his ship was protecting a convoy of wheat from the United States . He was exchanged and promoted to captain , taking command of the 74 - gun " Formidable " . The following year he was captured again at the battle of Groix , where he was twice wounded and lost an eye ; he was again exchanged . In 1796 he took part in the Expédition d ' Irlande as a chief of division , leading a 3 - ship of the line and 4 - frigate squadron , with his flag on " Nestor " . Arrived in Bantry Bay , the generals opposed a landing , and the squadron headed back to Brest , taking three prizes on the way . On 12 April 1796 he was captain of the " Unité " when captured her . " Revolutionnaire " had no casualties because the French had fired high , aiming for her rigging ; the British fired into their quarry with the result that " Unité " suffered nine men killed and 11 wounded . In 1799 he was promoted to Rear - Admiral ( contre - amiral ) and sent to the Mediterranean under Admiral Bruix . As second in command of the squadron under Admiral Ganteaume , he attacked Elba in 1801 . Then in command of a small squadron based in Cadiz , he fought a larger British squadron under Sir James Saumarez in the Battle of Algeciras . His squadron prevailed during the first part of the battle , capturing HMS " Hannibal " , but on the return to Cadiz , two Spanish ships who had joined him were fooled into firing on each other by a British night attack and were lost . In 1803 Napoleon Bonaparte appointed him to command the French forces in the Indian Ocean and , flying his flag aboard the 74 - gun - ship " Marengo " , he harried British merchant ships across the ocean and into the China Seas . One embarrassing incident was the Battle of Pulo Aura in 1804 when a squadron of French naval ships commanded by Linois encountered the British China Fleet which consisted of lightly armed merchant ships . The British ships outnumbered Linois and they manoeuvred as though would fight to defend themselves and some of the ships flew naval ensigns . The tactics of the convoy commodore Nathaniel Dance convinced Linois that the fleet was defended by a number of naval escorts and so he retired instead of attacking the virtually defenceless fleet . However , on his return to France he ran into a large British squadron under Admiral Warren off Cape Verde at the Action of 13 March 1806 . He was wounded and captured again but this time as Napoleon had stopped the practice of exchanging officers he was held until Napoleon fell in 1814 . He was appointed comte de Linois in 1810 by Napoleon . Following the Bourbon restoration , Louis XVIII named him to be Governor of Guadeloupe but as Linois supported Napoleon during the Hundred Days he was forced to resign after the battle of Waterloo . He was court martialled but acquitted in 1816 . However , he was placed in retirement and never served again , although he was appointed as an honorary Vice - Admiral ( vice - amiral ) in 1825 . He lived in Versailles , where he died in 1848 . In fiction . Linois is a minor recurring character in the Aubrey – Maturin series by Patrick O ' Brian . The Battle of Pulo Aura is also described in " Newton Forster , or The Merchant Service " , written in 1832 by Frederick Marryat .