Jacques Félix Emmanuel Hamelin
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Baron Jacques Félix Emmanuel Hamelin (October 13, 1768 in Honfleur, Calvados, France - April 23, 1839 in Paris) was a rear admiral of the French navy and later a Baron. He commanded numerous naval expeditions and battles with the British Navy as well as exploratory voyages in the Indian Ocean and the South Seas.
At age 17, Hamelin embarked on a trade ship belonging to his uncle as a young marine to learn sailing. In April 1786, he was a crew member of the ship L'Asie of the merchant marine which was destined for the coast of Angola on a ten-month campaign. He then proceeded to Cherbourg on board the Triton as a helmsman. In July 1788, Hamelin returned to Honfleur, where he embarked as a midshipman on the ship La Jeune Mina and campaigns on several other vessels.
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[edit] Navy
Hamelin was conscripted by the French Revolutionary Government for the French Revolutionary Wars and in 1792, quit commercial sailing and joined the marines. In August 1792 he was a quartermaster aboard the vessel l'Entreprenant which was a part of a naval division under rear admiral Louis-René Levassor de Latouche Tréville. Tréville's division joined together with another squadron of admiral Laurent Jean François Truguet and participated in operations against Oneglia, Caligliari, and Nice.
In August 1793 Hamelin was named midshipman of the frigate la Proserpine, with which he took over the Hollandic frigate la Vigilante and part of the convoy she was escorting.
He was promoted to lieutenant in August 1795, and on la Minerve, participated in combat on March 7, 1795. An English vessel the Berwich was subsequently captured.
On November 21, 1796, Hamelin was named commander of la Révolution which he became involved in the Irish Rebellion. Later, Hamelin took command of the la Fraternité for three months after which he left to take command of la Précieuse under the orders of admiral Eustache Bruix. He then embarked as second-in-command on le Formidable.
[edit] South Seas
From October 1, 1800 to June 23, 1803, Hamelin captained le Naturaliste along with Captain Nicolas Baudin on le Géographe on a scientific exploration exploring the South Seas. This voyage was intended by the French government to establish a port in the southern seas before the British. Hamelin and Baudin, along with their crews, undertook extensive mapping of the coastlines of Australia and New Guinea.
The voyage included a visit to Dirk Hartog Island in 1801, where a party of Hamelin's men discovered a plate, left by Willem de Vlamingh in 1697, which had in turn replaced an earlier plate left by Dirk Hartog in 1616. Hamelin's men initially removed the plate but it was returned on his orders and left intact until a later visit by Louis de Freycinet in 1818. De Freycinet was on Hamelin's 1801 crew.
On his return to France, Hamelin oversaw the weaponry of the large fleet intended for the ascent on England.
[edit] Mauritius
In July 1806, Hamelin took command of the frigate la Vénus from Le Havre. He set sail for Mauritius, seizing four ships along the way. In March 1809, la Vénus entered the Port of Napoleon (formerly Port Louis, Mauritius). On April 26, after orders from the general captain of Mauritius to leave, he sailed off, having under his command la Vénus, the frigate la Manche, the brig l'Entreprenant and the schooner la Créole. He visited Foulpointe on the east coast of Madagascar. Besieged by natives, he moved on the Bay of Bengal, entered Saint-Georges channel, seized several English ships, sunk a great number of boats sent out by the English, and on November 18, 1809, seized Tappanouti, an English merchantship. On the return voyage to Mauritius, he captured three large East India Trading Company ships. He seized several more English ships, notably the English frigate the Ceylon, as the English attacked the island.
[edit] Heroes return
On returning to France in February 1811, Hamelin was presented to Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, and awarded the Commandeur de Légion d'honneur, created a Baron of Empire, raised to the rank of rear-admiral and named commander of a division of the squadron under the orders of Admiral Edouard Jacques Burgues de Missiessy.
In April 1818, he moved to Toulon as general major of the navy, a post that he occupied until May 18, 1822. In early 1823, he was appointed Senior Officer of Legion-in Honneur
In 1832, Baron Hamelin was appointed as Inspector General of Marine Crews, and in 1833 he was named Director of Marine Cartography.
He retired shortly after, and died in Paris on April 23, 1839.
His nephew was Admiral François Alphonse Hamelin.
[edit] References
- Fornasiero, Jean; Monteath, Peter and West-Sooby, John. Encountering Terra Australis: the Australian voyages of Nicholas Baudin and Matthew Flinders, Kent Town, South Australia,Wakefield Press,2004. ISBN 1862546258
- « Jacques Félix Emmanuel Hamelin », dans C. Mullié, Biographie des célébrités militaires des armées de terre et de mer de 1789 à 1850, XIXe siècle : [1] (French)
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- This article draws heavily on the fr:Jacques Félix Emmanuel Hamelin article in the French-language Wikipedia, which was accessed in the version of July 26, 2006.
- Marchant, Leslie R. French Napoleonic Placenames of the South West Coast, Greenwood, WA. R.I.C. Publications, 2004. ISBN 1741260949
