Léonard Charner

Léonard Victor Joseph Charner
Léonard Victor Joseph Charner.
Born	1797
Died	1869
Allegiance	France
Service/branch	French Navy
Rank	Amiral
Battles/wars	Second Opium War Siege of Saigon Colonization of Cochinchina

Léonard Victor Joseph Charner (1797, Saint-Brieuc, Côtes-d'Armor – 1869) was an Admiral of the French Navy.

He was the vice-captain of the ship La Belle Poule that brought back in France the remains of Napoleon I in 1840, during the Retour des Cendres.

He participated in the Crimean War, mainly in the battle for Sebastopol.

In 1843, Captain Charner was part of the fleet sent to the Pacific Ocean by the French Foreign Minister François Guizot under Admiral Jean-Baptiste Cécille and together with the diplomat Lagrene. The move responded to the successes of the British in China in 1842, and France hoped to counterbalance these successes by accessing China from the south.

In 1860, Charner was commander of the French naval forces in the Far East. He was involved in the Second Opium War in China until its end in 1861.

As soon as the war ended, Charner left for Vietnam in January 1861 with his naval squadron and a force of 3,000 troops to support French troops encircled in Saigon. On February 11, 1861, he relieved the Siege of Saigon, thereby continuing the endeavour of Admiral Rigault de Genouilly, and permitting the establishment of the first French territories in Vietnam. The French Navy Minister Chasseloup-Laubat wrote to Charner: "We wish to draw commerce to Saigon (...) What we want is a sort of suzerainty or sovereignty with free trade accessible to all".