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Pierre-Charles Villeneuve | |
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| Born | (1763-12-31)31 December 1763 |
| Died | 22 April 1806(1806-04-22) (aged 42) |
| Allegiance | Kingdom of France French First Republic First French Empire |
| Branch | French Navy French Imperial Navy |
| Service years | 1779–1806 |
| Rank | Vice admiral |
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Vice-AdmiralPierre-Charles-Jean-Baptiste-Silvestre de Villeneuve (31 December 1763 – 22 April 1806) was aFrench Navy officer who served in theFrench Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He was in command of a Franco-Spanish fleet which was defeated by the BritishRoyal Navy at theBattle of Trafalgar in 1805.[1]
Pierre-Charles Villeneuve was born on 31 December 1763 atValensole,Provence.[1] He joined theFrench Navy in 1779, and took part innaval operations in the American Revolutionary War, serving as aship-of-the-line ensign onMarseillois inFrançois Joseph Paul de Grasse's fleet.[2] Despite his aristocratic ancestry, Villeneuve sympathised with theFrench Revolution; dropping thenobiliary particle from his name, he was able to continue serving in the French navy when other aristocratic naval officers were purged. Villeneuve fought in several naval battles of theWar of the First Coalition, and was promoted tocounter admiral in 1796.[citation needed]
Villeneuve participated in theFrench invasion of Egypt and Syria in 1798; at theBattle of the Nile, he was in command of the French rear division. His ship,Guillaume Tell, was one of only two French ships of the line to escape the defeat.[1] Villeneuve was subsequently captured by the British during thesiege of Malta, but he was soon released. Though Villeneuve was criticised for not engaging the British at the Battle of the Nile,Napoleon considered him a "lucky man" and his career was not affected.[1]
In 1804, Napoleon ordered Villeneuve, now avice admiral stationed atToulon, to slip past the British blockade, overcome theRoyal Navy'sChannel Squadron and allowNapoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom to take place. To draw off the Channel Squadron, Villeneuve was to sail to theWest Indies, where he would combine forces with theSpanish Navy and the French fleet atBrest and attack theBritish West Indies before returning across the Atlantic and destroying the Channel Squadron and escort theArmy of the Ocean Coasts from their camp atBoulogne to invade England.[citation needed]
After an abortive expedition in January, Villeneuve finally left Toulon on 29 March 1805 with elevenships of the line. He evaded Nelson's blockade, passed theStrait of Gibraltar on 8 April and crossed the Atlantic with Nelson's fleet in pursuit, but about a month behind owing to unfavourable winds. In the West Indies Villeneuve waited for a month atMartinique, but AdmiralGanteaume's Brest fleet did not appear. Eventually Villeneuve was pressured by French army officers into beginning the planned attack on the British, but he succeeded only inrecapturing the island fort ofDiamond Rock off Martinique. On 7 June he learned that Nelson had reachedAntigua. On 8 June he and his fleet were able to intercept a homeward-bound convoy of 15 British merchant vessels escorted by thefrigateHMS Barbadoes and thesloop orschoonerHMS Netley. The two British warships managed to escape, but Villeneuve's fleet captured the entire convoy, valued at some five million pounds. Villeneuve then sent the prizes into Guadeloupe under the escort of the frigateSirène.[3] On 11 June Villeneuve set out for Europe with Nelson again in pursuit.
On 22 July Villeneuve, now with twenty ships of the line and seven frigates, passedCape Finisterre on the northwest coast of Spain and entered theBay of Biscay. Here he met a British fleet of fifteen ships of the line commanded by Vice Admiral SirRobert Calder. In the ensuingBattle of Cape Finisterre, a confused action in bad visibility, the British, though outnumbered, were able to cut off and capture two Spanish ships.
For two days Villeneuve shadowed the retreating British, but did not seek a battle. Instead he sailed toA Coruña, arriving on 1 August. Here he received orders from Napoleon to sail to Brest and Boulogne as planned. Instead, perhaps believing a false report of a superior British fleet in the Bay of Biscay, and against the Spanish commanders' objections, he sailed away back toCádiz, rendering Napoleon's planned invasion of Britain wholly impossible.
At Cádiz the combined French and Spanish fleets were kept under blockade by Nelson. Nelson arriving off Cadiz on the 28th September. In September, Villeneuve was ordered to sail forNaples and attack British shipping in the Mediterranean, but he was initially unwilling to move and continued in blatant disregard of superior orders.
In mid-October he learned that Napoleon was about to replace him as commanding officer withFrançois Étienne de Rosily-Mesros and order him to Paris to account for his actions. (Napoleon had written to the Minister of Marine, "Villeneuve does not possess the strength of character to command a frigate. He lacks determination and has no moral courage.") Before his replacement could arrive, Villeneuve gave the order to sail on 18 October.
Inexperienced crews and the difficulties of getting out of Cádiz meant that it took two days to get all 34 ships out of port and into some kind of order. On 21 October 1805 Villeneuve learned of the size of the British fleet, and turned back to Cádiz, but the combined fleets were intercepted by Nelson offCape Trafalgar. Nelson, though outnumbered, won theBattle of Trafalgar, and Villeneuve'sflagshipBucentaure was captured along with many other French and Spanish ships.
The British sent Villeneuve toEngland in theEuryalus but released him onparole; during this time he lived inBishop's Waltham inHampshire. He stayed at the Crown Inn public house and his men, who numbered 200, stayed in local houses. He was allowed to attend the funeral of Lord Nelson whilst at Bishop's Waltham.[citation needed] Freed in late 1805,[citation needed] he returned to France, where he attempted to go back into military service, but his requests were not answered.
On 22 April 1806, he was found dead at theHôtel de la Patrie inRennes with five stab wounds in the left lung and one in the heart.[4] He had left a farewell letter to his wife.[5] A verdict of suicide was recorded.[1] The nature of his death ensured that this verdict was much mocked in the British press of the time and suspicions abounded that Napoleon had secretly ordered Villeneuve's murder.[6] The question of whether Villeneuve committed suicide has been a source of contention among historians ever since.[5]
His name is etched on theArc de Triomphe.[7]
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