René Duguay-Trouin

Lieutenant général des armées navales René Trouin, Sieur du Gué, also known as René Duguay-Trouin (; 10 June 1673 – 27 September 1736), was a French Navy officer and privateer best known for his service in the War of the Spanish Succession. Successful in his military career, Duguay-Trouin eventually becoming Lieutenant-General of the Naval Armies of the King (vice admiral; French: Lieutenant-Général des armées navales du roi) in 1728, as well as a Commander in the Order of Saint-Louis. Ten ships of the French navy have since been named in his honour.

Early life

Duguay-Trouin was born in Saint-Malo, Brittany on 10 June 1673. His family were ship-owners, operating a shipping business out of Saint-Malo, a port favoured by French corsairs. At the age of 16, Duguay-Trouin first went to sea as a sailor on board the French privateer Trinité under the command of a Captain Legoux. The privateer subsequently captured two enemy merchant ships, the François Samuel and Seven Stars of Scotland. Just two years later in 1691, his family provided him with command of his own ship, the 14-gun lugger Danycarn. In the next year, King Louis XIV appointed Duguay-Trouin to command the thirty-gun ship of the line Hercule on 6 June.

Ennoblement and naval career

thumb|right|150px|An illustration of Réné Duguay-Trouin telling King [[Louis XIV of his exploits.]]

In 1694, Louis XIV awarded Duguay-Trouin with a sword of honour for his naval service. In the same year, Duguay-Trouin, commanding the frigate Diligente, was attacked by a Royal Navy squadron commanded by Admiral David Mitchell while convoying a group of French merchant ships on 12 April. Duguay-Trouin successfully enabled the convoy to escape capture but was forced by Mitchell's squadron to strike his colours after a brief naval engagement which saw most of the crew of Diligente either killed or wounded. Duguay-Truin was taken as a prisoner of war to Plymouth, England. Investors in this venture doubled their money, and Duguay-Trouin earned a promotion to Lieutenant général de la Marine.

Later career and death

In his late career, he commanded the fleet based in Saint-Malo, then the fleet based in Brest, the fleet for the East and eventually Toulon harbour. He died in 1736, after having written to Fleury to ask Louis XV to support his family.

Personal memoirs

From 1720 to 1721, Duguay-Trouin wrote a set of personal memoirs for his family, initially having no intention of actually publishing them. However, he eventually changed his mind; the memoirs, edited for publication by Pierre Villepontoux, were published by Dutch publisher Pieter Mortier on 1730 in Amsterdam.

Memoires de M. du Gué-Trouin, chef d'escadre des armées de S.M.T.C. et grand-croix de l'Ordre militaire de S. Louis. Amsterdam: Chez Pierre Mortier, 1730. [Publiés par P. Villepontoux].
de Mr. du Gué-Trouin, chef d'escadre des armées de S.M.T.C. et grand-croix de l'Ordre militaire de S. Louis. A Londres [i.e. Amsterdam: Chez P. du Barri & E. Belton at the bee-hive St. Martin's Lane. [i.e. Pierre Mortier], 1730.
Memoires de M. du Gué-Trouin, chef d'escadre des armées de S.M.T.C. et grand-croix de l'Ordre militaire de S. Louis. Amsterdam: Chez Pierre Mortier, 1746.
Mémoires de Monsieur Du Guay-Trouin : lieutenant-général des armées navales, ... Augmentés de son Eloge par M. Thomas. Amsterdam: Pierre Mortier, 1769.
Mémoires de Monsieur Du Guay-Trouin: lieutenant général des armées navales de France et commandeur de l'Ordre royal & militaire de Saint Louis. Augmenté de Son Éloge par M. Thomas. Amsterdam: Pierre Mortier, 1773 (facsimile, 1974). "Complément aux mémoires de Duguay-Trouin." 17 pages inserted.
Mémoires de Monsieur du Guay-Trouin, lieutenant-général des armées navales, commandeur de l'Ordre royal & militaire de Saint-Louis. Nouvelle Édition. Paris, 1774. Reprinted from the authorized edition: Paris?: P.-F. Godart de Beauchamps, M.DCC.XL.
Mémoires de Monsieur Du Guay-Troui: lieutenant-général des armées navales, ... Augmentés de son Eloge par M. Thomas. Rouen, 1779. 750 copies conforming to the Amsterdam edition of 1769.
Des Mémoirs Relatif a L'Histoire de France. Mémoires de Duguay-Trouin Paris: Foucault, 1829, pp. 294 ff.

In popular culture

Duguay-Trouin is mentioned in Volume II, "Within A Budding Grove", of Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time (previously published as Remembrance of Things Past). The reference occurs in an interlude section of the work entitled "Place Names: the Place" juxtaposed with other Impressionistic images. This reference specifically compares the brave image of the warrior's statue with the banal image of ordinary people eating sorbets in a bakery, illustrating that at the time, Duguay-Trouin's influence on French society was still so pervasive that statues of his form were commonplace.