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Updated: June 22, 2025
The strong forces that restored discipline in the army had more difficulty in reaching the navy; and Napoleon's gift for discovering ability and lifting it to command was marked by its absence in his choice of leaders for the fleets. Usually he fell back on pessimistic veterans of the old régime like Brueys, Missiessy, and Villeneuve.
Missiessy escaped from Rochefort, sailed to the West Indies, where he did some damage and then sailed home again. "He had taken a pawn and returned to his own square." "My fleet looked well at Toulon," he wrote to Decrès, Minister of Marine, "but when the storm came on, things changed at once.
This has been pronounced by Jurien de la Gravière the best of all Napoleon's plans: it exposed ships that had long been in harbour only to a short ocean voyage, and it was free from the complexity of the later and more grandiose schemes. Villeneuve was thereupon appointed to succeed him, while Missiessy held command at Rochefort.
The canal connecting the Seine with the Scheldt was illuminated, and Napoleon and his court sailed over it in gondolas richly decked with flags. On the 30th of April they embarked on the canal which goes from Brussels to the Ruppel, and by the Ruppel to the Scheldt. The First Lord of the Admiralty and Admiral Missiessy were in command of the Imperial flotilla.
Fortunately, Admiral Missiessy had the advantage over the English commanders in speed, and sailing up into the higher Scheldt, formed by the two branches of the river, he arranged his vessels under forts Lillo and Liefkenshoek which by their cross-fires protected the river from bank to bank. Antwerp was thus safe from attack by sea; at Paris there was great anxiety as to attacks by land.
Thus, during the journey of which I have spoken, the ostensible object of which was the organisation of the departments on the Rhine, he despatched two squadrons from Rochefort and Boulogne, one commanded by Missiessy, the other by Villeneuve I shall not enter into any details about those squadrons; I shall merely mention with respect to them that, while the Emperor was still in Belgium, Lauriston paid me a sudden and unexpected visit.
This has been pronounced by Jurien de la Gravière the best of all Napoleon's plans: it exposed ships that had long been in harbour only to a short ocean voyage, and it was free from the complexity of the later and more grandiose schemes. Villeneuve was thereupon appointed to succeed him, while Missiessy held command at Rochefort.
England deceived by Napoleon Admirals Missiessy and Villeneuve Command given to Lauriston Napoleon's opinion of Madame de Stael Her letters to Napoleon Her enthusiasm converted into hatred Bonaparte's opinion of the power of the Church The Pope's arrival at Fontainebleau Napoleon's first interview with Pius VII. The Pope and the Emperor on a footing of equality Honours rendered to the Pope His apartments at the Tuileries His visit to the Imperial printing office Paternal rebuke Effect produced in England by the Pope's presence in Paris Preparations for Napoleon's coronation Votes in favour of hereditary succession Convocation of the Legislative Body The presidents of cantons Anecdote related by Michot the actor Comparisons Influence of the Coronation on the trade of Paris The insignia of Napoleon and the insignia of Charlemagne The Pope's mule Anecdote of the notary Raguideau Distribution of eagles in the Champ de Mars Remarkable coincidence.
The adventurous cruise of Bruix, leaving Brest with twenty-five ships-of-the-line in 1799, the rapidity with which the news spread, the stirring action and individual mistakes of the English, the frustration of the French projects and the closeness of the pursuit, the escape of Missiessy from Rochefort in 1805, of the divisions of Willaumez and Leissegues from Brest in 1806, all these may be named, along with the great Trafalgar campaign, as affording interesting studies of a naval strategy following the lines here suggested; while the campaign of 1798, despite its brilliant ending at the Nile, may be cited as a case where failure nearly ensued, owing to the English having no force before Toulon when the expedition sailed, and to Nelson being insufficiently provided with frigates.
Arrived, on the 14th of May, at Martinique, he found Missiessy no longer there, but his orders obliged him to await the arrival of Ganteaume. A continuous calm prevented the latter from leaving Brest, where he was blockaded by the English.
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