Joseph Potier

Joseph Potier (5 May 1768, Saint-Malo — 10 November 1830) was a French privateer and slave trader. He was one of the lieutenants of Robert Surcouf.

Joseph Potier was born to a family of low nobility of Saint-Malo. His mother was a descendant of Robert Surcouf de Maisonneuve, and he was therefore a distant cousin to Robert Surcouf.

Potier started sailing as a boy on the ships that his father equipped and sent out to Guinea and the Caribbean. He rose to become an officer in the merchant marine and eventually to Captain on 28 April 1792. With this rank, he served as first officer on the Aimable-Rose, under Captain de La Coudraie.

Returning to France during the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror, he enlisted in the French Navy as an Ensign; he was appointed to a frigate bound for the Caribbean, which remained there for a few months before decommissioning in the USA. For fear of being considered an émigré, he returned to France, where he served in the general staff of Brest harbour until late 1795. After the Battle of Quiberon, he commanded a company of sailors that hunted down the surviving émigrés.

Having obtained a release from Navy duty in late 1795, Potier enlisted on the privateer Heureuse-Nouvelle as first officer.Heureuse-Nouvelle was armed with 22 guns and had a crew of 130 men; she captured a number of prizes until 28 January 1798, when a British squadron under Captain Edward Pellew comprising HMS Indefatigable, Cambrian, and the hired armed lugger Duke of York captured her. The British took Potier prisoner.

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