Jean Baptiste, marquis de Traversay

Jean Baptiste Prevost de Sansac, marquis de Traversay (July 24, 1754 – May 19, 1831) was a naval officer of French creole origins who distinguished himself in the ranks of Royal French Navy during the American Revolutionary War. In 1791, fleeing from the French Revolution, Traversay joined the Imperial Russian Navy, rising to commander-in-chief of the Black Sea Fleet in 1802. In 1809 he was appointed Minister of the Navy, which position he held for 18 years. His name was frequently russified to Ivan Ivanovich de Traversay (Russian: Иван Иванович де Траверсе).

Traversay is commemorated internationally in the name of the Traversay Islands and in the sarcastic Russian name for the shallow Neva Bay - the Marquis Puddle (Russian: Маркизова лужа).

Jean-Baptiste Prevost de Sansac de Traversay was born in the French Caribbean island of Martinique, the first of nine children of Jean-Francois and Claire de Traversay. His father, Jean-Francois chevallier de Traversay (1725–1776), was a French Navy lieutenant stationed in Martinique who later became a military governor of the island. Jean-Francois's mother owned sizable sugar cane plantations and came from an old naval family named Duquesne; her direct ancestry included captain-armator Abraham Duquesne (1570–1635) and admiral Abraham Duquesne-Guitton (1651–1724). The title of Prevost de Sansac de Traversay traces back to chevallier Hugh Prevost (d. 1086).

Jean-Baptiste was five years old when he arrived in France in 1759. His father first placed him in a Benedictine boarding school in Sorèze. In 1766 Jean-Baptiste joined the Navy college in Rochefort; when this college was closed, his class continued their training in Brest.

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