Georges René Le Peley de Pléville
Encyclopedia
Georges-René Le Pelley de Pléville (29 June 1726, Granville
- 2 October 1805, Paris
) was the governor of the port of Marseilles, a French admiral, minister for the navy and the colonies
from 15 July 1797 to 27 April 1798, a senator
, a knight of the Order of St Louis and the Order of Cincinnatus
, and one of the very first Grand officiers of the Légion d'honneur
.
de Pléville, a captain in the merchant navy, and his mother was the daughter of the seigneur du Saussey in the parish of Lingreville
. Thus de Pléville was attracted to the sea and ships early in his life. Orphaned whilst very young, he ran away from the collège at Coutances
to get himself engaged on a ship to Newfoundland
in 1738. His uncle - intending him for the priesthood - asked the ship's captain to put de Pléville off life at sea. His first voyage as a pilotin was also particularly hard, and he was welcomed in Newfoundland by an old friend of his father, who treated him more understandingly. He thus went on many cod fishing voyages on different ships. An ensign
from 1740 on the Ville de Québec, he revolted against a sending to the brig which he deemed unjust, and fled whilst the vessel was anchored on the coast of Canada. He walked alone for 50 days across the Canadian forest, meeting native tribes, before finally arriving in Quebec, where he was welcomed by a family that took pity on him. He embarked on another ship under a pseudonym as a helmsman
and for the following years continued to serve in Newfoundland.
but was too poor to remain there, so he was taken on by a small privateer
sailing from Granville, the Françoise du Lac, as lieutenant. Some hours after leaving port, this boat was met in the lee of Jersey
by two English privateers and crushed between their cannons' cross-fire. de Pléville was wounded in this 6 hour long battle, losing his right leg and finally being captured. Welcomed to Falmouth
like a son by the family of an Admiralty
functionary, he was cared for there and learned English until he was exchanged for an English prisoner. He then served in the French Royal Navy as lieutenant de frégate
on the Argonaute, commanded by Tilly Le Pelley, another uncle, then on the ship Mercure, which was part of the squadron
under the orders of the duc d'Anville
in 1746 to recapture Cape Breton Island
. This squadron was met on its return from Chebucto
by Admiral George Anson
and in the ensuing First battle of Cape Finisterre
a cannon ball carried away de Pléville's wooden leg (de Pléville joked to his captain "That cannonball was mistaken - it only made work for the carpenter." or, in the original French, "Le boulet s'est trompé - il n'a donné de besogne qu'au charpentier") and he was once again taken prisoner.
On his release, he started serving on another privateer. He was second officer on the Comte de Noailles, on which he was yet again taken prisoner, though he managed to escape shortly before the end of the war. He then became second officer on a smuggling vessel working along the coast of England then, as captain, for four years again on a Newfoundland fishing vessel.
In 1757 Georges Pléville Le Pelley married Marie Ursule de Rambaud in Marseilles, and the couple had four children. Marie Ursule was the daughter of Jean Rambaud (a privateer captain, ship-owner and foreign merchant), with the marriage thus making de Pléville brother-in-law to Agathe de Rambaud
.
and then for the operations on Corsica
. He commanded the privateer corvette
Colibri, belonging to his father-in-law, informing the French navy of the movements of English vessels. Having been in many close combats, he and the Colibri were integrated into the Clue squadron in 1758 at Martinique
.
From 1758 to 1762, he commanded a small ship of the French Navy, the Hirondelle, with which he seized three British East India Company
ships. During one of these battles, he again lost his wooden leg. Health problems forced him to take up posts on land in the following years, including lieutenant de vaisseau and capitaine of the port of Martinique from 1763, writing a treatise on mast
s and making improvements to the roads on the Antilles
.
Returning to France, he was taken on by the harbour of Marseilles as its harbour-captain. The English frigate Alarm
, battered by a storm in the evening of 1 May 1770, ran aground on the coast of Provence amongst boulders, and was in imminent danger of breaking up. This event gave Pléville the chance to deploy his nautical knowledge, his self-control and his courage. Told of the danger the ship was in, he quickly mustered the harbour pilots, surrounded himself with the bravest sailors he could find, and at their head rushed to the relief of the English, while confronting the perils of the sea in the darkest time of a stormy night. He moored himself to a grelin, slid alongside the boulders, reached on board the frigate with his wooden leg, and took command of it. The ship had already almost heeled over many times, and began to run aground. Pléville ordered a manoeuvre that got it afloat again and brought it into harbour at Marseilles. This frigate was commanded by captain John Jervis
, who later became a British admiral and was awarded the title of Earl of St Vincent
for destroying the Spanish fleet at the cape of that name in 1797. de Pléville's fearless devotion and dignity was appreciated in England, with the lords of the Admiralty giving him a glowing testimony on behalf of the British government and commanding captain Jervis to return to Marseilles in the frigate Alarm to give de Pléville a very valuable present and a letter expressing their sentiments on his inspiring conduct. The letter ran thus:
The present was a piece of silver
ware in the form of an urn, on which were engraved dolphins and other maritime attributes, with a model of the Alarm, and a richly engraved lid surmounted by a triton
. Remarkable in its elegance of form and high level of finish and workmanship, this vase bore the English coat of arms, and had the following inscription, intended to preserve the memory of the event which had merited this superb present:
Thinking that he could not receive a gift from a foreign sovereign, de Pléville only accepted the urn after having been duly authorised to do so by the king of France. Jervis was also extremely grateful to de Pléville, and eager for the chance to reward him. He wrote to his sister from HMS Alarm, anchored at Mahon
on 27 December 1770:
Ten years later, de Pléville's devotion to the safety of the Alarm gained a different but no less honourable reward, when his son - a young naval officer - was captured on board a frigate at the end of a battle in 1780 and taken to England. There, the British Admiralty sent him back to France without requiring a prisoner-exchange, after having authorised him to choose three other French naval officers to go with him.
's squadron from 1778 on board the flagship, the Languedoc. He took part in the whole campaign and in many different battles. d'Estaing entrusted him with gaining supplies and reprovisioning the fleet, and was astonished by his unselfishness, for those usually given that kind of mission would not let such a chance for self-enrichment pass them by. He was promoted to capitaine de vaisseau at the admiral's intervention, but returned to France with him and re-assumed his old duties at the port of Marseilles. There, he also gave positive comparison to his contemporaries in his exemplary honesty (rare at that time), living only on his official wage and not on embezzled funds, despite having a large family to support.
, as did most of the officers who had served in America, but in moderation. He was the treasurer of a revolutionaries' club at Marseilles. He sailed to Avignon
, where he disembarked, sabre in hand, to receive his orders. During the Reign of Terror
, he was sent to take command of a division charged with escorting a resupply convoy to Tunis
that had not yet got through, replacing Jean Gaspard Vence
after he was accused of treason. On arrival, he realised that Vence
was really in difficulties and had not failed in his duty in the slightest. Ignoring his orders, he kept Vence
in his command and simply offered him his help. This brought de Pléville some difficulties with the authorities, but thanks to him Vence
's reputation would be fully rescued.
He fulfilled the functions of a Minister of the Navy for two years, and then reorganised the naval forces at Ancona
and Corfu
. He, Letourneur and Maret
were the three plenipotentiaries
sent to Lille
in summer 1797 for (fruitless) peace negotiations with Britain. During his stay in Lille, on 19 July 1797, the Directory
named him Minister of the Navy and the Colonies, to replace admiral Laurent Truguet. Also in 1797 he was made a counter admiral
.
As minister, he was once again remarked upon for his unselfishness, honesty and scrupulousness in a regime particularly marked by general corruption among the political and administrative elites. He was made vice admiral
in April 1798, but dismissed from the ministry due to his disapproval of the expedition to Egypt, for which he was convinced the navy did not have the means. He was vindicated in this by the fleet's disastrous defeat by Nelson at the battle of Aboukir Bay.
At the age of 72, he commanded the French naval forces in the Mediterranean for a short while, then retired to Paris. The Consulate
named him a senator in 1799, and the Empire
brought him the honour of commander of the Légion d’honneur on its creation, though he died soon after the honour was bestowed.
Pléville le Pelley was in all his plans an exceptional man, but one too often forgotten - a great sailor and a privateer of the first order, with a rare physical courage. The way in which he saved the frigate Alarm when nobody else dared act is something worthy of an adventure novel, particularly remembering that he was one-legged. In speaking out for the unjustly accused Vence
, he did not hesitate to put his reputation and career in danger, or to disobey his orders, even in a time when heads fell easily. Finally, his unselfishness throughout his career and his refusal to be self-serving is particularly remarkable under both the Ancien Régime, since it was then accepted that every functionary looked out for himself, and the Directory
, one of the most corrupt regimes France has ever known. This unselfish and honest conduct frequently brought himself and his family to the brink of misery, particularly during the time he served at Marseilles.
.
Guy de Rambaud, Les Rambaud, mille ans d'histoire (manuscrit) http://www.histoire-empire.org/persos/le_pelley.htm Monique Le Pelley-Fonteny : Itinéraire d’un marin granvillais : Georges-René Pléville Le Pelley (1726–1805). Neptunia Vol. 55, Paris, 2000. His memoirs : Mémoires d’un marin granvillais, collectif, Collection patrimoine, Les Cahiers Culturels de la Manche, Maison du Département 50008 St-Lô http://www.musees-basse-normandie.fr/index.php?action=detail_prod&id_pres=1475&id_musee=37 Georges Fleury : lauréat du Prix Henri Queffélec 2000, pour son ouvrage Le Corsaire - Pléville Le Pelley - 1726-1805, éd. Flammarion Monique Le Pelley-Fonteny, Gilles Désiré dit Gosset, Antoine Reffuveille, Rémy Villand : Les amiraux granvillais, catalogue de l'exposition 2006-2007. Conseil Général de la Manche. http://www.cg50.fr/iso_album/dp_amiraux_granvillais.pdf Hubert Granier, contre-amiral (2è S.), Marins de France au combat 1715-1789, Editions France Empire, Paris, 1995 Jean Marc Van Hille, les vicissitudes d'un marin provençal, Jean Gaspard Vence, 1747-1808, Service Historique de la Marine, Paris. http://www.1789-1799.org/articles/rambaud/agathe_de_rambaud.htm
Granville, Manche
-Sights:The old town preserves all the history of its military and religious past. The lower town was partly built on land reclaimed from the sea. The upper part of the old town is surrounded by ramparts from the fifteenth century...
- 2 October 1805, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
) was the governor of the port of Marseilles, a French admiral, minister for the navy and the colonies
Minister of Overseas France
The Minister of Overseas France is a cabinet member in the Government of France responsible for overseeing French overseas departments and territories .The position is currently held by Brice Hortefeux, who is also the Minister of the Interior...
from 15 July 1797 to 27 April 1798, a senator
Sénat conservateur
The Sénat conservateur was a body set up in France during the Consulate by the Constitution of the Year VIII. With the Tribunat and the Corps législatif, it formed one of the three legislative assemblies of the Consulate...
, a knight of the Order of St Louis and the Order of Cincinnatus
Society of the Cincinnati
The Society of the Cincinnati is a historical organization with branches in the United States and France founded in 1783 to preserve the ideals and fellowship of the American Revolutionary War officers and to pressure the government to honor pledges it had made to officers who fought for American...
, and one of the very first Grand officiers of the Légion d'honneur
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
.
Origins and youth
His father was Hervé Le Pelley, seigneurLord
Lord is a title with various meanings. It can denote a prince or a feudal superior . The title today is mostly used in connection with the peerage of the United Kingdom or its predecessor countries, although some users of the title do not themselves hold peerages, and use it 'by courtesy'...
de Pléville, a captain in the merchant navy, and his mother was the daughter of the seigneur du Saussey in the parish of Lingreville
Lingreville
Lingreville is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France....
. Thus de Pléville was attracted to the sea and ships early in his life. Orphaned whilst very young, he ran away from the collège at Coutances
Coutances
Coutances is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France.-History:Capital of the Unelli, a Gaulish tribe, the town took the name of Constantia in 298 during the reign of Roman emperor Constantius Chlorus...
to get himself engaged on a ship to Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...
in 1738. His uncle - intending him for the priesthood - asked the ship's captain to put de Pléville off life at sea. His first voyage as a pilotin was also particularly hard, and he was welcomed in Newfoundland by an old friend of his father, who treated him more understandingly. He thus went on many cod fishing voyages on different ships. An ensign
Ensign (rank)
Ensign is a junior rank of a commissioned officer in the armed forces of some countries, normally in the infantry or navy. As the junior officer in an infantry regiment was traditionally the carrier of the ensign flag, the rank itself acquired the name....
from 1740 on the Ville de Québec, he revolted against a sending to the brig which he deemed unjust, and fled whilst the vessel was anchored on the coast of Canada. He walked alone for 50 days across the Canadian forest, meeting native tribes, before finally arriving in Quebec, where he was welcomed by a family that took pity on him. He embarked on another ship under a pseudonym as a helmsman
Helmsman
A helmsman is a person who steers a ship, sailboat, submarine, or other type of maritime vessel. On small vessels, particularly privately-owned noncommercial vessels, the functions of skipper and helmsman may be combined in one person. On larger vessels, there is a separate officer of the watch,...
and for the following years continued to serve in Newfoundland.
War of the Austrian Succession
He entered the gardes de la marineGardes de la Marine
In France, under the Ancien Régime, the Gardes de la Marine , or Gardes-Marine were young gentlemen picked and maintained by the king in his harbours to learn the navy service, and to train to be officers. They were organized in companies, divided up between the harbors of Brest, Toulon, and...
but was too poor to remain there, so he was taken on by a small privateer
Privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...
sailing from Granville, the Françoise du Lac, as lieutenant. Some hours after leaving port, this boat was met in the lee of Jersey
Jersey
Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and...
by two English privateers and crushed between their cannons' cross-fire. de Pléville was wounded in this 6 hour long battle, losing his right leg and finally being captured. Welcomed to Falmouth
Falmouth, Cornwall
Falmouth is a town, civil parish and port on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It has a total resident population of 21,635.Falmouth is the terminus of the A39, which begins some 200 miles away in Bath, Somerset....
like a son by the family of an Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
functionary, he was cared for there and learned English until he was exchanged for an English prisoner. He then served in the French Royal Navy as lieutenant de frégate
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
on the Argonaute, commanded by Tilly Le Pelley, another uncle, then on the ship Mercure, which was part of the squadron
Duc d'Anville Expedition
The Duc d'Anville Expedition was sent from France to recapture peninsular Acadia . The expedition was the largest military force ever to set sail for the New World prior to the American Revolution. The effort to take the Nova Scotian capital, Annapolis Royal was also supported on land by a force...
under the orders of the duc d'Anville
Jean-Baptiste Louis Frédéric de La Rochefoucauld de Roye
Jean-Baptiste Louis Frédéric de La Rochefoucauld de Roye was made duc d'Anville by King Louis XV of France and pursued a military career in the French navy...
in 1746 to recapture Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. It likely corresponds to the word Breton, the French demonym for Brittany....
. This squadron was met on its return from Chebucto
Halifax Harbour
Halifax Harbour is a large natural harbour on the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, located in the Halifax Regional Municipality.-Harbour description:The harbour is called Jipugtug by the Mi'kmaq first nation, anglisized as Chebucto...
by Admiral George Anson
George Anson, 1st Baron Anson
Admiral of the Fleet George Anson, 1st Baron Anson PC, FRS, RN was a British admiral and a wealthy aristocrat, noted for his circumnavigation of the globe and his role overseeing the Royal Navy during the Seven Years' War...
and in the ensuing First battle of Cape Finisterre
First battle of Cape Finisterre (1747)
The First Battle of Cape Finisterre saw 14 British ships of the line under Admiral George Anson attack a French 30-ship convoy commanded by Admiral de la Jonquière during the War of the Austrian Succession. The British captured 4 ships of the line, 2 frigates and 7 merchantmen, in a five-hour...
a cannon ball carried away de Pléville's wooden leg (de Pléville joked to his captain "That cannonball was mistaken - it only made work for the carpenter." or, in the original French, "Le boulet s'est trompé - il n'a donné de besogne qu'au charpentier") and he was once again taken prisoner.
On his release, he started serving on another privateer. He was second officer on the Comte de Noailles, on which he was yet again taken prisoner, though he managed to escape shortly before the end of the war. He then became second officer on a smuggling vessel working along the coast of England then, as captain, for four years again on a Newfoundland fishing vessel.
In 1757 Georges Pléville Le Pelley married Marie Ursule de Rambaud in Marseilles, and the couple had four children. Marie Ursule was the daughter of Jean Rambaud (a privateer captain, ship-owner and foreign merchant), with the marriage thus making de Pléville brother-in-law to Agathe de Rambaud
Agathe de Rambaud
Agathe de Rambaud was born in Versailles as Agathe-Rosalie Mottet and was baptized in the future cathedral Saint-Louis of Versailles, on December 10, 1764. She died in Aramon, in the département of Gard, on October 19, 1853...
.
Seven Years' War
His boat, the Brillant, was requisitioned as a troop transport for the 1756 expedition to MinorcaMinorca
Min Orca or Menorca is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. It takes its name from being smaller than the nearby island of Majorca....
and then for the operations on Corsica
Corsica
Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....
. He commanded the privateer corvette
Corvette
A corvette is a small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship, originally smaller than a frigate and larger than a coastal patrol craft or fast attack craft , although many recent designs resemble frigates in size and role...
Colibri, belonging to his father-in-law, informing the French navy of the movements of English vessels. Having been in many close combats, he and the Colibri were integrated into the Clue squadron in 1758 at Martinique
Martinique
Martinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados...
.
From 1758 to 1762, he commanded a small ship of the French Navy, the Hirondelle, with which he seized three British East India Company
British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
ships. During one of these battles, he again lost his wooden leg. Health problems forced him to take up posts on land in the following years, including lieutenant de vaisseau and capitaine of the port of Martinique from 1763, writing a treatise on mast
Mast (sailing)
The mast of a sailing vessel is a tall, vertical, or near vertical, spar, or arrangement of spars, which supports the sails. Large ships have several masts, with the size and configuration depending on the style of ship...
s and making improvements to the roads on the Antilles
Antilles
The Antilles islands form the greater part of the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea. The Antilles are divided into two major groups: the "Greater Antilles" to the north and west, including the larger islands of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola , and Puerto Rico; and the smaller "Lesser Antilles" on the...
.
Governor of the port of Marseilles
HMS Alarm (1758)
HMS Alarm was a 32-gun fifth rate Niger-class frigate of the Royal Navy, and was the first Royal Navy ship to bear this name. Copper-sheathed in 1761, she was the first ship in the Royal Navy to have a fully copper-sheathed hull....
, battered by a storm in the evening of 1 May 1770, ran aground on the coast of Provence amongst boulders, and was in imminent danger of breaking up. This event gave Pléville the chance to deploy his nautical knowledge, his self-control and his courage. Told of the danger the ship was in, he quickly mustered the harbour pilots, surrounded himself with the bravest sailors he could find, and at their head rushed to the relief of the English, while confronting the perils of the sea in the darkest time of a stormy night. He moored himself to a grelin, slid alongside the boulders, reached on board the frigate with his wooden leg, and took command of it. The ship had already almost heeled over many times, and began to run aground. Pléville ordered a manoeuvre that got it afloat again and brought it into harbour at Marseilles. This frigate was commanded by captain John Jervis
John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent
Admiral of the Fleet John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent GCB, PC was an admiral in the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom...
, who later became a British admiral and was awarded the title of Earl of St Vincent
Viscount St Vincent
Viscount St Vincent, of Meaford in the County of Stafford, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1801 for the noted naval commander John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent, with remainder to his nephews William Henry Ricketts and Edward Jervis Ricketts successively, and...
for destroying the Spanish fleet at the cape of that name in 1797. de Pléville's fearless devotion and dignity was appreciated in England, with the lords of the Admiralty giving him a glowing testimony on behalf of the British government and commanding captain Jervis to return to Marseilles in the frigate Alarm to give de Pléville a very valuable present and a letter expressing their sentiments on his inspiring conduct. The letter ran thus:
The present was a piece of silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
ware in the form of an urn, on which were engraved dolphins and other maritime attributes, with a model of the Alarm, and a richly engraved lid surmounted by a triton
Triton (mythology)
Triton is a mythological Greek god, the messenger of the big sea. He is the son of Poseidon, god of the sea, and Amphitrite, goddess of the sea, whose herald he is...
. Remarkable in its elegance of form and high level of finish and workmanship, this vase bore the English coat of arms, and had the following inscription, intended to preserve the memory of the event which had merited this superb present:
Thinking that he could not receive a gift from a foreign sovereign, de Pléville only accepted the urn after having been duly authorised to do so by the king of France. Jervis was also extremely grateful to de Pléville, and eager for the chance to reward him. He wrote to his sister from HMS Alarm, anchored at Mahon
Mahon
Mahón is a municipality and the capital city of the Balearic Island of Minorca , located in the eastern part of the island. Mahon has the second deepest natural harbor in the world: 5 km long and up to 900m. wide...
on 27 December 1770:
Ten years later, de Pléville's devotion to the safety of the Alarm gained a different but no less honourable reward, when his son - a young naval officer - was captured on board a frigate at the end of a battle in 1780 and taken to England. There, the British Admiralty sent him back to France without requiring a prisoner-exchange, after having authorised him to choose three other French naval officers to go with him.
American War of Independence
During the American War of Independence, he acted as lieutenant de vaisseau in d'EstaingCharles Hector, comte d'Estaing
Jean Baptiste Charles Henri Hector, comte d'Estaing was a French general, and admiral. He began his service as a soldier in the War of the Austrian Succession, briefly spending time as a prisoner of war of the British during the Seven Years' War...
's squadron from 1778 on board the flagship, the Languedoc. He took part in the whole campaign and in many different battles. d'Estaing entrusted him with gaining supplies and reprovisioning the fleet, and was astonished by his unselfishness, for those usually given that kind of mission would not let such a chance for self-enrichment pass them by. He was promoted to capitaine de vaisseau at the admiral's intervention, but returned to France with him and re-assumed his old duties at the port of Marseilles. There, he also gave positive comparison to his contemporaries in his exemplary honesty (rare at that time), living only on his official wage and not on embezzled funds, despite having a large family to support.
Under the French Revolution
He adopted the principles of the French RevolutionFrench Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, as did most of the officers who had served in America, but in moderation. He was the treasurer of a revolutionaries' club at Marseilles. He sailed to Avignon
Avignon
Avignon is a French commune in southeastern France in the départment of the Vaucluse bordered by the left bank of the Rhône river. Of the 94,787 inhabitants of the city on 1 January 2010, 12 000 live in the ancient town centre surrounded by its medieval ramparts.Often referred to as the...
, where he disembarked, sabre in hand, to receive his orders. During the Reign of Terror
Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror , also known simply as The Terror , was a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of...
, he was sent to take command of a division charged with escorting a resupply convoy to Tunis
Tunis
Tunis is the capital of both the Tunisian Republic and the Tunis Governorate. It is Tunisia's largest city, with a population of 728,453 as of 2004; the greater metropolitan area holds some 2,412,500 inhabitants....
that had not yet got through, replacing Jean Gaspard Vence
Jean Gaspard Vence
Jean Gaspard de Vence was a French privateer, admiral and Maritime Prefect of Toulon.-Biography:In 1762 at age 15 he entered the merchant navy in Bayonne, sailed to Saint-Domingue and several years later became a captain. Transferred to the Royal Navy, served on a 74-gun battleship «Le...
after he was accused of treason. On arrival, he realised that Vence
Jean Gaspard Vence
Jean Gaspard de Vence was a French privateer, admiral and Maritime Prefect of Toulon.-Biography:In 1762 at age 15 he entered the merchant navy in Bayonne, sailed to Saint-Domingue and several years later became a captain. Transferred to the Royal Navy, served on a 74-gun battleship «Le...
was really in difficulties and had not failed in his duty in the slightest. Ignoring his orders, he kept Vence
Jean Gaspard Vence
Jean Gaspard de Vence was a French privateer, admiral and Maritime Prefect of Toulon.-Biography:In 1762 at age 15 he entered the merchant navy in Bayonne, sailed to Saint-Domingue and several years later became a captain. Transferred to the Royal Navy, served on a 74-gun battleship «Le...
in his command and simply offered him his help. This brought de Pléville some difficulties with the authorities, but thanks to him Vence
Jean Gaspard Vence
Jean Gaspard de Vence was a French privateer, admiral and Maritime Prefect of Toulon.-Biography:In 1762 at age 15 he entered the merchant navy in Bayonne, sailed to Saint-Domingue and several years later became a captain. Transferred to the Royal Navy, served on a 74-gun battleship «Le...
's reputation would be fully rescued.
He fulfilled the functions of a Minister of the Navy for two years, and then reorganised the naval forces at Ancona
Ancona
Ancona is a city and a seaport in the Marche region, in central Italy, with a population of 101,909 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region....
and Corfu
Corfu
Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality. The...
. He, Letourneur and Maret
Hugues-Bernard Maret, duc de Bassano
Hugues-Bernard Maret, 1st Duc de Bassano was a French statesman and journalist.-Early career:Born at Dijon , he received a solid education, and then entered the legal profession – becoming a lawyer at the King's Council in Paris...
were the three plenipotentiaries
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
sent to Lille
Lille
Lille is a city in northern France . It is the principal city of the Lille Métropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Lille is situated on the Deûle River, near France's border with Belgium...
in summer 1797 for (fruitless) peace negotiations with Britain. During his stay in Lille, on 19 July 1797, the Directory
French Directory
The Directory was a body of five Directors that held executive power in France following the Convention and preceding the Consulate...
named him Minister of the Navy and the Colonies, to replace admiral Laurent Truguet. Also in 1797 he was made a counter admiral
Counter Admiral
Counter admiral is a rank found in many navies of the world, but no longer used in English-speaking countries, where the equivalent rank is rear admiral...
.
As minister, he was once again remarked upon for his unselfishness, honesty and scrupulousness in a regime particularly marked by general corruption among the political and administrative elites. He was made vice admiral
Vice Admiral
Vice admiral is a senior naval rank of a three-star flag officer, which is equivalent to lieutenant general in the other uniformed services. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral...
in April 1798, but dismissed from the ministry due to his disapproval of the expedition to Egypt, for which he was convinced the navy did not have the means. He was vindicated in this by the fleet's disastrous defeat by Nelson at the battle of Aboukir Bay.
At the age of 72, he commanded the French naval forces in the Mediterranean for a short while, then retired to Paris. The Consulate
French Consulate
The Consulate was the government of France between the fall of the Directory in the coup of 18 Brumaire in 1799 until the start of the Napoleonic Empire in 1804...
named him a senator in 1799, and the Empire
First French Empire
The First French Empire , also known as the Greater French Empire or Napoleonic Empire, was the empire of Napoleon I of France...
brought him the honour of commander of the Légion d’honneur on its creation, though he died soon after the honour was bestowed.
Analysis
Jean Gaspard Vence
Jean Gaspard de Vence was a French privateer, admiral and Maritime Prefect of Toulon.-Biography:In 1762 at age 15 he entered the merchant navy in Bayonne, sailed to Saint-Domingue and several years later became a captain. Transferred to the Royal Navy, served on a 74-gun battleship «Le...
, he did not hesitate to put his reputation and career in danger, or to disobey his orders, even in a time when heads fell easily. Finally, his unselfishness throughout his career and his refusal to be self-serving is particularly remarkable under both the Ancien Régime, since it was then accepted that every functionary looked out for himself, and the Directory
French Directory
The Directory was a body of five Directors that held executive power in France following the Convention and preceding the Consulate...
, one of the most corrupt regimes France has ever known. This unselfish and honest conduct frequently brought himself and his family to the brink of misery, particularly during the time he served at Marseilles.
Likenesses
His portrait may be seen in the musée du Vieux Granville, whilst his statue dominates Granville's port. Also, a bust of him may be seen at the palace of VersaillesPalace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles , or simply Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles in the Île-de-France region of France. In French it is the Château de Versailles....
.
Sources
"Georges-René Pléville Le Pelley", in Charles Mullié, Biographie des célébrités militaires des armées de terre et de mer de 1789 à 1850, 1852 Guy de Rambaud, Pour l’amour du Dauphin, Anovi 2005, ISBN : 2-91418-02-5, biography of Agathe de RambaudAgathe de Rambaud
Agathe de Rambaud was born in Versailles as Agathe-Rosalie Mottet and was baptized in the future cathedral Saint-Louis of Versailles, on December 10, 1764. She died in Aramon, in the département of Gard, on October 19, 1853...
Guy de Rambaud, Les Rambaud, mille ans d'histoire (manuscrit) http://www.histoire-empire.org/persos/le_pelley.htm Monique Le Pelley-Fonteny : Itinéraire d’un marin granvillais : Georges-René Pléville Le Pelley (1726–1805). Neptunia Vol. 55, Paris, 2000. His memoirs : Mémoires d’un marin granvillais, collectif, Collection patrimoine, Les Cahiers Culturels de la Manche, Maison du Département 50008 St-Lô http://www.musees-basse-normandie.fr/index.php?action=detail_prod&id_pres=1475&id_musee=37 Georges Fleury : lauréat du Prix Henri Queffélec 2000, pour son ouvrage Le Corsaire - Pléville Le Pelley - 1726-1805, éd. Flammarion Monique Le Pelley-Fonteny, Gilles Désiré dit Gosset, Antoine Reffuveille, Rémy Villand : Les amiraux granvillais, catalogue de l'exposition 2006-2007. Conseil Général de la Manche. http://www.cg50.fr/iso_album/dp_amiraux_granvillais.pdf Hubert Granier, contre-amiral (2è S.), Marins de France au combat 1715-1789, Editions France Empire, Paris, 1995 Jean Marc Van Hille, les vicissitudes d'un marin provençal, Jean Gaspard Vence, 1747-1808, Service Historique de la Marine, Paris. http://www.1789-1799.org/articles/rambaud/agathe_de_rambaud.htm