Jean d'Estrées | |
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| Count of Estrées | |
 Engraving of the Count of Estrées | |
| Full name | Jean d'Estrées |
| Born | 3 November 1624 Solothurn,Switzerland |
| Died | 19 May 1707 (aged 82) Hôtel d'Estrées, Paris, France |
| Spouse | Marie Marguerite Morin |
| Issue | Victor Marie, Duke of Estrées Jean, Archbishop of Cambrai Marie, Marquise of Courtanvaux |
| Father | François Annibal d'Estrées, Duke of Estrées |
| Mother | Marie de Béthune |
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Jean d'Estrées, Count of Estrées (3 November 1624 – 19 May 1707) was aFrench Navy officer and nobleman who served during the reign ofLouis XIV. He was born into an aristocratic family fromPicardy. His aunt wasGabrielle d'Estrées, a mistress of KingHenry IV of France.
Like his fatherFrançois Annibal d'Estrées, also Marshal of France, Jean pursued a military career from a very young age. He became a colonel at 23, amaréchal de camp at 25 and alieutenant general at 33.
He fought in theBattle of Lens (1648) under thegrand Condé. After that he fought underTurenne inLorraine in 1652 - 1653 and then in Flanders. He was made prisoner atValenciennes in 1656.
He was loyal to the royal family during theFronde.
In 1668 he joined the new French Navy at the request of his friendColbert. There his patron was theDuke of Beaufort. He rose through the ranks very fast, thanks to the influence of his family name, becoming a Vice-Admiral, and then Marshal of France in 1681.
His first campaign was in theCaribbean. He returned four times, becoming the French naval specialist in the region.
During theFranco-Dutch War, he was put in command of the French fleet which would fight alongside the English fleet against the Dutch. He participated on board theSaint Philippe in theBattle of Solebay in 1672 and the next year on thela Reine, in theBattle of Schooneveld and theBattle of Texel.
In 1676 and 1677, he conqueredGorée,Cayenne andTobago, destroying the Dutch fleet based there.
Following his successes at Cayenne and Tobago, d'Estrées planned to attack the Dutch atCuraçao island. His fleet—12men of war, 3fireships, 2 transports, ahospital ship and 12 privateers—met with disaster, losing 7 of the men of war and 2 other ships when they struck reefs off theLas Aves archipelago due to a navigational error on 11 May 1678, a week after setting sail fromSaint Kitts.
According to the captain of d'Estrées flagshipTerrible, Nicholas Lefèvre de Méricourt, d'Estrées was solely at fault and had abandoned the ship to its fate. Navy ministerSeignelay received other reports, including d'Estrées' own, which told a different story and one more favourable to the unpopular admiral. According to these, the pilots of d'Estrées ships had been unable to agree on their position on the morning of 11 May, and the navigators had been unable to fix theirlatitude. To avoid the risk of running onto shoals and reefs, d'Estrées sent three privateer ships ahead of the fleet to get timely warning of hazards. When night fell, the privateers fell back closer to the main body, but still ahead of it. These privateers, however, were light ships and ofshallow draft, so that they passed over the reef before they even noticed it. They fired guns to warn the fleet following them, but there was not enough time for the large men of war to change course and the result was that nine ships were lost. The loss of life was light, with only 24 sailors being lost, some drowned, dead drunk.
With the loss of half his fleet, d'Estrées had to return to France. He was exonerated of personal responsibility for the disaster.
He married Marie Marguerite Morin and had the following children:
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