Édouard Thomas Burgues de Missiessy
French admiral
Died when: 80 years 335 days (971 months)Star Sign: Taurus
Édouard-Thomas de Burgues, comte de Missiessy (23 April 1756, Forcalquier, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence – 24 March 1837, Toulon) was a French naval officer and admiral.
He joined the navy in April 1766, as a volunteer aboard his father's ship and spent most of his early service in the Mediterranean, in the frigates of the Toulon Fleet.
When France entered the American Revolutionary war, Missiessy joined the 64-gun Vaillant in Admiral d'Estaing's fleet, where he took part in the initial engagements off Newport, St Lucia and Grenada, and in September 1779, the failed attack on Savannah.
Missiessy's first command came in 1782 when he was promoted to lieutenant de vaisseau of the cutter Le Pygmée.He was soon after captured by the British but later released in an exchange of prisoners.
In 1789, the year of the outbreak of the French Revolution, Missiessy was a frigate commander in the Mediterranean.Promoted to capitaine de vaisseau in January 1792, he received the command of the ship Centaure in Admiral Truguet's squadron.
In January 1793, he was promoted to contre-amiral.The Revolution became more radical and Missiessy was arrested on 21 May 1793 for being of noble birth.
He was released and returned to duty on 30 June but when Toulon declared for the King, Missiessy fled to Italy.
He did not return to France until 1795 and despite being acquitted by a court of enquiry, he was not given a ship and spent the next six years working ashore.
In 1804, Missiessy was appointed commander-in-chief of the Rochefort squadron with a key role in Napoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom.
The Rochefort squadron was intended to rendezvous with Villeneuve's fleet in the West Indies and draw British ships there, before racing back across the Atlantic and seizing control of the English Channel.
The failure of this plan was blamed in part on Missiessy and he was dismissed from the service.He was not employed again until February 1808 when he was made Commander-in-Chief of the defences at the Scheldt, foiling the British attacks on Antwerp that occurred between July and September 1809.
Missiessy ceased active service on 17 September 1824 and was officially acknowledged as retired on 23 April 1832, when his name was entered on the retirement list.
He died at Toulon on 24 March 1827, aged 80.
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