Pierre-Paulin Gourrège
Pierre-Paulin Gourrège (9 June 1749 in Bordeaux — 27 October 1805 near Cadiz) was a French Navy officer and captain. Career. Gourrège started his career in the merchant Navy in 1749, rising to assistant pilot the next year, to lieutenant in 1772 and earning his commission of captain in 1777. In 1791, he became captain in the National Guard, and was appointed Lieutenant in the Navy on 1 July 1792, taking command of the frigate "Fraternité" on 13 November 1793. With "Fraternité", he cruised from Brest off Southern Spain before transferring on "Brutus". On 21 March 1796 , Gourrège was promoted to Commander, and to Captain on 22 September. On 10 November, he was appointed to "Coquille", supervised the commissioning of "Indienne" at the Havre from 20 October 1797, and took command of "Créole" on 12 April 1799. After taking part in an abortive sortie with the division under "contre-amiral" Lacrosse, where "Créole" sustained some damage in a collision with "Fidèle", Gourrège took part in Ganteaume's expeditions of 1801. During the cruise, he was appointed to the 80-gun "Indivisible", which he commanded during the action of 24 June 1801, where she and "Dix-Août" captured  HMS "Swiftsure". Gourrège commanded the "Jean Bart" from 5 September 1801, and the "Aigle" from 28 November 1802. In 1803, he served off Santo Domingo, ferrying troops from Livorno to Cap-Français and performing an amphibious landing at Gonaïves, before returning to Cadiz. On 5 February 1804, he was made a Knight in the order of the Legion of Honour, and promoted to Officer on 14 June. On "Aigle", he reinforced the Franco-Spanish fleet during the Trafalgar Campaign and took part in the Battle of Cape Finisterre and in the Battle of Trafalgar, where he was mortally wounded at  the outbreak of the fight possibly by mistake by fire from "Principe de Asturias". "Aigle" was captured during the battle, recaptured afterwards by her own crew mutined against the British, but ultimately wrecked near Cadiz. Gourrège died of his injuries six days after the battle.