Honoré Joseph Antoine Ganteaume Count Honoré Joseph Antoine Ganteaume ( La Ciotat , 13 April 1755 – Aubagne , 28 July 1818 ) was a French Navy officer and Vice - admiral . Ganteaume started sailing on Indiamen , before serving during the American War of Independence in the fleets of Admiral d ' Estaing and Suffren . At the French Revolution , he was promoted to command the 74 - gun " Trente - et - un Mai " , taking part in the Glorious First of June and the Croisière du Grand Hiver . Ganteaume took part in the Expedition to Egypt , narrowly escaping death during the Battle of the Nile . There , he formed a personal relationship with General Bonaparte , who supported his promotion . He was made a Rear - Admiral and given command of a squadron to supply the Army of Egypt , but in Ganteaume ' s expeditions of 1801 , he engaged in months of complicated maneuvers to elude the Royal Navy and eventually failed his mission . He supplied the French forces of the Saint - Domingue expedition . During the Trafalgar Campaign , Ganteaume was to lead his squadron to the Caribbean to reinforce Villeneuve and Missiessy , but he was blockaded by British squadrons . Ganteaume held various offices during the late First French Empire , and gave his loyalty to Louis XVIII at the Bourbon Restoration . Career . Ganteaume was born in La Ciotat , into a family of merchant sailors . He started sailed at the age of 14 on a merchantman commanded by his father , and by the time he reached the age of 22 , Ganteaume had accomplished five campaigns in the Middle East and two in the Caribbean . He served on the Mississippi Company Indiaman " Fier Rodrigue " . Service in the American War of Independence . In 1778 , with the intervention of France in the American Revolutionary War , Ganteaume enlisted in the French Royal Navy as an auxiliary officer , while " Fier Rodrigue " was purchased into naval service as a 54 - gun ship of the line . " Fier Rodrigue " escorted a convoy to America , and attached to a division under Lamotte - Picquet in the fleet of Admiral d ' Estaing . In the fleet of Admiral d ' Estaing , Ganteaume took part in the Capture of Grenada and in the Siege of Savannah . In 1781 , he was promoted to auxiliary Frigate Lieutenant , and appointed to command the fluyt " Marlborough " in a convoy bound for the Indies and escorted by Suffren . From 1781 to 1785 , Ganteaume served on the frigate " Surveillante " He was promoted to Fireship Captain in 1784 , and sub - Lieutenant in 1786 . Upon his return at the peace , Ganteaume was granted permission to return to the service of the Mississippi Company . He successively commanded the Indiamen " Maréchal de Ségur " , bound for Chian , and " Prince de Condé " and " Constitution " , bound for the Indies . In 1793 , he was captured on an Indiaman and imprisoned by the British ; released , he returned to the Navy , with the rank of Lieutenant . He served on the 74 - gun " Jupiter " for a campaign in the Atlantic Ocean . Service on " Trente - et - un Mai " . Ganteaume was promoted to Captain in 1794 , and was appointed to command the 74 - gun " Trente - et - un Mai " . During the Atlantic campaign of May 1794 , he attempted to attach to the French fleet under Villaret - Joyeuse , but only joined late in the Glorious First of June ; he took part in the last throes of the battle , where he was thrice wounded . In the winter , Geanteaume led " Trente - et - un Mai " in the Croisière du Grand Hiver , and notably rescued the crew of the stricken " Scipion " . In 1795 , " Trente - et - un Mai " sailed to the Mediterranean , and cruised off Catalonia ; she sustained a two - hour battle against a Spanish ship of the line . On 18 April 1795 , " Trente - et - un Mai " was renamed " Républicain " . She attached to the fleet under Vice - Admiral Martin , and took part in the Battle of Hyères Islands . In late 1795 , Ganteaume was appointed to command a division , comprising one ship of the line , four frigates and four corvettes . He sailed to Smyrna , where he lifted the blockade on Villeneuve ' s squadron , and captured the frigate HMS " Nemesis " . In 1796 , returned to the Ocean , Ganteaume successful ran the British blockade of Brest and sailed a convoy carrying munitions into the harbour . Service in Egypt . Appointed Chief of staff to Rear - Admiral and Navy Minister Bruix , Ganteaume took part in the French campaign in Egypt and Syria on the flagship " Orient " . He took part in the Battle of the Nile , where he was wounded , and narrowly escaped death when " Orient " caught fire by escading on a boat . " Orient " exploded soon after . Promoted to Rear - Admiral upon request of General Bonaparte , Ganteaume led the flottilla of small ships of the Nile River , taking part in the Siege of Jaffa , the Siege of Acre and the Battle of Abukir . On 22 August 1799 , Ganteaume departed Alexandria with the frigates " Muiron " and " Carrère " , the aviso " Revanche " and a tartane , ferrying General Bonaparte back to France . Bonaparte ordered the ships to sail close to the shore of Africa to elude British squadrons , and landed in Corsica , to finally arrive at Fréjus on 2 October . After arriving in France , Bonaparte , as First Consul , appointed Ganteaume to the Council of State , in which he presided the section of the Navy . Ganteaume ' s expeditions of 1801 . In 1801 , Ganteaume was appointed to command a seven - ship division in Brest , tasked with ferrying supplies and 5000 soldiers to the French Army of Egypt . After successfully crossing British - held Gibraltar , Ganteaume cruised in the Mediterranean for six months to elude the British fleet . Ganteaume returned to Toulon to resupply and repair his ships . In the following months , he attempted three sorties , once arriving off Alexandria without landing : when he finally arrived near Egypt , actually Derna , Libya , in June 1800 , the troops did not land , due to the hostility of the locals and the British naval threat . Ganteaume eventually renounced and defiantly returned to Toulon , after capturing Elba and four British ships , including a 38 - gun frigate and in the Action of 24 June 1801 the 74 - gun HMS " Swiftsure " , but failing his mission to supply the French armies in the Middle East . Ganteaume ' s tergiversations motivated the satirical poem : Service in Saint - Domingue and the Trafalgar Campaign . After the Treaty of Lunéville ended the War of the Second Coalition in early 1801 , Ganteaume was tasked with supporting the French forces involved in the Saint - Domingue expedition . In 1802 , Ganteaume was appointed Maritime Prefect for Toulon . At the outbreak of the War of the Third Coalition the year after , and with the Coronation of Napoleon I and the advent of the First French Empire on 2 December 1804 , Ganteaume was promoted to Vice - Admiral , made a Count of the Empire , and appointed to command the fleet in Brest . In 1805 , after the death of Vice - Admiral Latouche - Tréville and the outbreak of the Trafalgar Campaign , Napoléon briefly considered entrusting Ganteaume with an expedition to land a 18 000 - man army in Ireland , in a move similar to what had been attempted in 1796 with the ill - fated Expédition d ' Irlande ; eventually , Ganteaume was ordered to the Caribbean to land reinforcements there and return to Europe with the fleets under Rear - Admiral Missiessy and Vice - Admiral Villeneuve . Adverse weather prevented Ganteaume from leaving Brest , and he finally departed one month after Missiessy . In transit , Ganteaume bumped into the British Channel Fleet under Admiral Cornwallis and retreated to Brest , where he ended up hermetically blocked . Informed of the Battle of Cape Finisterre , Ganteaume was ordered to break into the Ocean by force to make his junction with Villeneuve ; however , Villeneuve ' s port call to Cadiz thwarted this plan . Later career . In 1808 , Ganteaume took command of the French squadrons of Toulon and Rochefort , joined together at Toulon , with the aim to ferry supplies to Corfu , then blockaded by the Royal Navy . He departed Toulon in early February , successfully escorted his convoy into Corfu harbour , and returned to Toulon in April . During the mission , the frigates " Pénélope " and " Pauline " captured the frigate and brought her to Toulon . In June 1808 , Ganteaume was appointed General Inspector of the Coasts of the Ocean . From 1809 to 1810 , Ganteaume was appointed to command the fleet in Toulon , but attacks to gout kept him increasingly away from the sea . In 1810 , he joined the Council of the Admiralty . On 1 August 1811 , Napoléon appointed Ganteaume to command the battalion of the Marins de la Garde in the Imperial Guard as a Colonel . In 1813 , he defended Toulon . In 1814 , at the first Bourbon Restoration , Ganteaume supported the Acte de déchéance de l ' Empereur , and in consequence did not return to command during the Hundred Days ; immediately after the Battle of Waterloo , he ordered the Royalist white flag hoisted in Toulon ; this act got him almost killed . Restored to power again , Louis XVIII made Ganteaume a Peer of France in recognition for his support . In December 1815 , he was promoted to Commander in the Order of Saint Louis , and appointed General Inspector of the Classes . In his capacity of Peer of France , Ganteaume took part in the trial of Marshal Ney , and voted for his execution . Ganteaume died at his property of Pauline , near Aubagne , on 28 September 1818 .