Henri de Rigny Marie Henri Daniel Gauthier , comte de Rigny ( February 2 , 1782 – November 6 , 1835 ) was the commander of the French squadron at the Battle of Navarino in the Greek War of Independence . Biography . He was a nephew of Baron Joseph Dominique , baron Louis , and son of a former captain in the Penthièvre Dragoon regiment , and who died leaving five small boys , including his brother , the future General Rigny . The French Revolution led him out of the Pont - à - Mousson school , where he had been sent . He was ten years old then , had lost his father and his mother was listed as the list of emigrants . An aunt collected the family , consisting of a young girl of sixteen years and five boys , including Henry , the eldest . After spending several months in Special School in Brest , where he had been sent there to finish his studies , in 1798 , he entered the navy as a midshipman with Admiral Étienne Eustache Bruix . In 1799 he was appointed midshipman . He assisted in the blockade of Porto Ferrajo and the Battle of Algeciras , and then he made the Egyptian campaign , and took part in the Saint - Domingue expedition , Corsica and Spain . In 1803 he was appointed ensign and as such sent to the camp of Boulogne , he is responsible for commanding a corvette La Triomphante . Interrogated by Napoleon about the tides for the invasion of England , the young sailor gave to the Emperor a response strong and concise . Embedded with the marines of the Guard in the Army in 1806 and 1807 , he made in the course of two years these campaigns Prussia , Poland and Pomerania ; fought at Jena , to Pułtusk , the siege of Stralsund and Graudentz , where he was wounded . Assigned to the army of Spain in 1808 , he became aide - de - camp of Marshal Bessières ; he distinguished himself at the Battle of Medina de Rioseco , and was wounded at the Battle of Somosierra , and he witnessed the capture of Madrid , in 1809 , and the Battle of Wagram . Promoted to the rank of lieutenant in the same year 1809 , Mr . de Rigny was in 1811 commander , and received orders to sail for the English fleet which blockaded Cherbourg and Le Havre . He accomplished this with courage dangerous mission . In 1813 he was wounded again , while clearing the village of Barselen occupied by the British . In 1816 , He was elevated to the rank of captain , in 1822 received the command of the naval forces assembled in the Levant . He soon raised the French flag daily in these waters against the Greek and Turkish pirates , his intelligent care settled in the Archipelago Police navigation . He was appointed Admiral in 1823 , and was called in September 1827 , to ensure the resolution of France , Russia and England , who had united to wrest Greece to the Turkish rule . In 1827 he commanded the French fleet at the Battle of Navarino . It earned him of the Cross of the Order of the Bath and the Order of St . Alexander Nevsky and the title of Vice - Admiral . Back in France after the evacuation of the Morea , which he chaired , the Admiral was appointed maritime prefect of Toulon in 1829 . In 1829 Charles X awarded him the title of Count of Rigny , but he refused until August 8 that year , the portfolio of the Navy in the Polignac ministry . Admiral Count Rigny went into the Levant to resume command of the fleet . Returning to Toulon for health reasons , in September 1830 he was appointed to the Board of Admiralty , and received the decoration of Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor . Called in 1831 to the Chamber of Deputies by a double election , Admiral Rigny received , March 3 of that year , Louis - Philippe , the portfolio of the navy . Assigned on April 4 , 1834 , the Department of Foreign Affairs , he started that administration of a new activity . On September 17 , 1834 , he married Adele Defontaine Narcissus , of Mons ( born May 13 , 1803 ) , widow in her first marriage to a wealthy Belgian businessman , Daniel Honnor Florent François ( 1780 – 1830 ) , with whom she had two daughters : Elise ( 1826 – 1876 ) , later Duchess of Padua by his marriage with Louis Arrighi de Casanova , and Leonie ( 1829 – 1892 ) , later Marchioness of Talhouët by her marriage with Augustus Talhouët Roy . On March 12 , 1835 , his health became increasingly unsteady , forcing him to resign his ministerial duties , but in August , he accepted a short mission to Naples . He was barely back in late October , when he felt the first attacks of which he succumbed on the night of 6 to 7 November 1835 at the age of 52 years . After his death , his widow gave birth to a daughter , Amelia Marie Gaultier Rigny born February 7 , 1868 . She married Baron Verneaux and died July 6 , 1868 at the Chateau de Ris Ris - Orangis . The Countess of Rigny , his mother also died at the Chateau de Ris , November 13 , 1875 .