The Battle of the Basque Roads.

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Captain Jean Jacques Etienne Lucas.



Born in Marennes, he joined the French Navy at the age of 14. From 1779 to 1782 he sailed on the Hermione. During this period, he fought at the battle off Cape Breton (21 July 1781), part of the American Revolutionary War.

The Battle of Trafalgar.

He is primarily remembered for his role in the Battle of Trafalgar. By 1805, Lucas was a capitaine de vaisseau, the French title for captain. He commanded the French ship of the line Redoutable.

On 21 October 1805, at Trafalgar, Redoutable was located just off the port side of the Bucentaure, flagship of Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve. As a result of this positioning, Lucas and his crew found themselves between the two columns of British ships commanded by Nelson and in the heat of battle from very early on in the conflict. They engaged HMS Victory, Nelson's flagship, and through use of heavy artillery they came astern of Victory and sought to board her.The battle aboard Victory was bloody, costing both sides many lives and ultimately resulting in stalemate. Admiral Nelson himself was mortally wounded by a musket shot fired from atop one of the masts of the Redoutable, but before the boarding was successful, HMS Temeraire intervened and opened fire on the starboard side of Redoutable, resulting in the deaths of over two hundred French sailors.

At 2:30 p.m., Redoutable surrendered to Temeraire after having lost 522 men out of their total 643. Of this number, 300 were killed and 222 were wounded. Lucas himself was injured, and the ship had suffered damage which had led to the hold taking on several feet of water. The masts had been broken and there was substantial damage to the rest of the ship, including the artillery.
HMS Swiftsure sent a party to take Lucas and two other officers off the ship into captivity the following morning. Redoutable, however, was still taking on water, and despite the efforts of rescue boats sent over the course of the day, only 119 crewmen were saved before the ship sank with the dead and wounded still on board.
Lucas was received in England with great courtesy.

After his release from capture, he was personally awarded the rank of Commandeur of the Legion of Honour by Napoleon for his role during the battle.

Battle of the Basque Roads.

In 1809, he was in command of Régulus, a Téméraire class 74-gun ship of the line part of admiral Zacharie Allemand's squadron. The French squadron was at first blockaded, and then attacked on 11 April 1809 by a British fleet, near Île-d'Aix, in what would become known as the Battle of the Basque Roads.

After breaching the boom that defended the anchored French fleet, the British sent in fireships, Régulus being the first to be hit. The French ship cut its anchor cables and managed to escape from one of the fireships, after a half-hour struggle. Régulus ran aground and it was in danger of capsizing. Trying to save his ship, Lucas had to throw overboard most of his cannons, keeping only 16 of them, together with ammunition and supplies for one month. He managed to refloat his ship, but it ran aground a second time, on the shoals of Les Palles. On 13 April, several smaller British ships tried to destroy the grounded French vessel, as they had done to several others, but after a six-hour fight Lucas repelled them. On 20 April, the British tried again, only to be repulsed a second time. During the next fight, on 24 April, not being able to bear his guns on the enemy because of Régulus ' list, Lucas cut new portholes in the hull for six of his cannons and managed to drive away the British vessels after an 8½ hours fight.

After being grounded for two weeks, repelling four attacks, being bombarded and firing almost 1,400 cannon shots, Régulus was in a bad shape, but on the night of 25 April the British retreated after having destroyed four ships of the line, one frigate and severely damaged the other French ships.Four days later, on 29 April, Lucas managed to patch and refloat his ship, which entered Rochefort to the cheers of the population.

Later life and death.

During the Hundred Days, Lucas sided with Napoleon. After the second Restoration of the Bourbons, Lucas retired from the Navy, in 1816, and died on 6 November 1819, in Brest.

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Captain Gilbert-Amable Faure.



Born the son of Jean-Baptiste Faure, of Fournoux, and Marguerite Rochon, Faure-Conac volunteered for naval service in 1778, serving for three campaigns on Argus, the corvette Sylphide and the frigate Pourvoyeuse, and became sub-lieutenant under Admiral Suffren in the squadron sent to operate against British India during the American Revolutionary War.

He later became naval commander at Pontarion, and after the French Revolution the administrator for Creuse. On 7 September 1792 he was elected by plurality as the alternate deputy to represent Creuse at the National Convention. After the death of Jean-François Guyès, he took his seat on 25 frimaire an II (15 December 1793), where he was occupied exclusively with naval issues, voting to postpone the indictment against Minister of the Navy Jean de Lacoste. By the decree of 30 thermidor an II (17 August 1794), Faure-Conac was sent on a mission with Bernard Thomas Tréhouart to the ports of Brest and Lorient, for which the committee of inspectors allocated 6000 livres on (18 August 1794).

During this mission, they learned from the authorities of Bergen in Norway that French sailors had helped to extinguish a major fire in the city. On 20 frimaire an III (10 December 1794), with his colleague, Faure-Conac sent to the Committee of Public Safety, the 171 decrees made during their trip, which were then redistributed to other committees. Recalled by the degree of 2 ventôse an III (20 February 1795), he was replaced by Julien-François Palasne de Champeaux and Jean-Nicolas Topsent
At the Convention, he opposed the plan by Marie-Benoît-Louis Gouly regarding the reorganisation of naval artillery.
Elected by the same department for the Conseil des Cinq-Cents on 21 vendémiaire an IV (13 October 1795) by 151 votes from 218 voters, Faure-Conac was promoted to captain on 22 September 1796, as commander of the frigate Bravoure. On 8 ventôse an V (26 February 1797) he resigned his political position to serve in the Navy. Between 1799 and 1809, he commanded Indivisible, Bravoure, Constitution, and finally Cassard at the battle of the Basque Roads.

On 4 January 1811, he was named commandant of the École de marine de Brest,on board the school-ship Tourville until 1814.

He was made an honorary contre-amiral on 1 January 1816 and retired to Chénérailles.

He was made an officier of the Légion d'honneur and a chevalier de Saint-Louis.

He died on the 31st December 1812.