Jean-François Lemaresquier

Jean-François Lemaresquier (Heugueville-sur-Sienne, 4 March 1767 - Battle of Tamatave, 18 May 1811) was a French naval officer.

In 1806, Lemaresquier commanded the 14-gun brig Teazer, stationed at the entrance of the Gironde estuary at Le Verdon-sur-Mer. On 15 July, at 1:30 in the morning, twelve boats from the British blockade slipped into the estuary and boarded the 16-gun César, anchored nearby, capturing her without a fight. Lemaresquier, however, alerted his crew who repelled the British boats with small-arms fire. The next morning, César sailed away, to the surprise of Lemaresquier, who thought that she too had repelled the British; Teazer gave chased, but César was too quick and escaped after an exchange of fire that wounded Lemaresquier.

On 11 August 1808, Lemaresquier commanded the 20-gun corvette Diligente, which sailed with the corvettes Sylphe and Espiègle from France with supplies for the island of Martinique. The 26-gun HMS Comet, under Featherstone Daly, chased the French squadron through the Bay of Biscay. The squadron changed course to avoid the stronger British corvette, which focused her attention on Sylphe, the weakest of the three French ships. Even though Sylphe made all sail and jettisoned part of her cargo, Cometcaught up with her at 15:30; Sylphe and surrendered after a one-hour fight. On 16 August, Espiègle encountered the 38-gun HMS Sybille. When Sybille caught up with Espiègle, Espiègle struck after a pro-forma discharge of her guns. Diligente being faster than her consorts, Lemaresquier out-sailed both the British ships and his companions, and sailed West.

On 6 September, off Barbados, Diligente encountered the 18-gun HMS Recruit, under Commander Charles Napier. The two corvettes came in range at 8:30 and both fired their broadsides, with the French fire wounding Napier. Both ships attempted to rake the other, but followed a parallel course, exchanging cannon fire until around 11:00, when Recruit's mainmast collapsed. Diligente was however prevented from pressing her advantage as Recruit's fire had left her hull in such a battered state that Lemaresquier had to order his gun crews to man the pumps to keep her afloat. By the time water was pumped out and the holes in the hull had been sealed, Recruit had retreated. Although the wind fallen so much that Diligente could catch up with Recruit before nightfall, by next morning, she had lost contact with Recruit.

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