Charles - Henri - Louis d ' Arsac de Ternay Charles - Henri - Louis d ' Arsac , chevalier de Ternay ( 27 January 1723 - 15 December 1780 ) was a French naval officer . Most active in the Seven Years ' War and the War of American Independence , Ternay was the naval commander of a 1762 expedition that successfully captured St . John ' s Newfoundland . He was appointed commander of the " Marine Royale " , French naval forces , as part of the project code named Expédition Particulière that brought French troops to American soil in 1780 . He died aboard ship off Newport , Rhode Island . Early life . Ternay was born on 27 January 1723 , probably in Angers , to Charles - François d ' Arsac , Marquis de Ternay and Louise Lefebvre de Laubrière . He served as a page in the Knights of Malta beginning in 1737 , and joined the French Navy the following year . He rose through the ranks , and received his first command , the " Robuste " , on 10 January 1761 . Seven Years ' War . In 1762 , late in the Seven Years ' War , Ternay was chosen to lead a secret expedition against the British - controlled island of Newfoundland . With instructions to take and hold the island , and possibly also make an attack on Fortress Louisbourg , then in British hands , Ternay led a squadron of two ships of the line , one frigate , and two flutes through the British blockade of the French coast from Brest on 20 May 1762 . Arriving at Bay Bulls on June 20 , he landed 750 soldiers , led by Joseph - Louis - Bernard de Cléron d ' Haussonville , who captured St . John ' s without resistance from its small British garrison . Ternay then oversaw the destruction of St . John ' s fishing stage s and fishing fleet . British estimates of the damage ran to £1 million . Although the French had not anticipated a British response until the next year , General Sir Jeffery Amherst was alerted to the French raid in July , and organized an expedition to recover Newfoundland . The British fleet arrived on 12 September , landing 1 , 500 troops the next day at Torbay . Two days later the French troops had retreated into Fort William after the Battle of Signal Hill . In a council , Ternay advocated abandoning the position , but was apparently outvoted , with the council opting to leave the ground forces and some marines , but also making provision for their eventual recovery by the fleet after it left the harbour . However , given a favourable wind and foggy conditions , Ternay decided to depart that night , and slipped away , leaving the ground forces to surrender three days later . Ternay ' s return to France was difficult : he was forced to run from British ships to the Spanish port of Corunna , and only reached Brest in January 1763 . Although criticised by d ' Haussonville for abandoning him , Ternay ' s actions met with approval , since he had managed to save his fleet . War of American Independence . After the war he continued in several ship commands , and was finally promoted to brigadier general in 1771 , when he was also named commandant of Isle de France ( now Mauritius ) and Île - Bourbon ( present - day Réunion ) . He was promoted to rear admiral in November 1776 . In 1780 he was given command of the naval forces of the Expédition Particulière , which carried the French army of the Comte de Rochambeau to Newport , Rhode Island . Ternay ' s fleet was blockaded by the British after his arrival . He died of typhus aboard his flagship the " Duc de Bourgogne " on 15 December 1780 . Ternay ' s entry into the Knights of Malta included a vow of celibacy , so he consequently never married or had children . He was buried in the cemetery of the Trinity Church in Newport , where memorials given by King Louis XV and the United States Congress have been placed in his honour . He was posthumously enrolled in the Society of the Cincinnati for his role in the war .