René Duguay-Trouin

René Trouin, Sieur du Gué
Portrait of René Duguay-Trouin by Antoine Graincourt, 18th century, Musée de la Marine.
Born	10 June 1673 Saint-Malo, Brittany
Died	1736
Piratical career
Type	Corsair
Allegiance	France
Years active	1690 - 1736
Rank	Lieutenant-General of the Naval Armies of the King (Vice admiral)
Commands	Danycan, Hermine, Diligente, Bellone, Raileuse
Battles/wars	War of the Spanish Succession

René Trouin, Sieur du Gué, usually called René Duguay-Trouin, (10 June 1673 in Saint Malo – 1736) was a famous Breton corsair of Saint-Malo. He had a brilliant privateering and naval career and eventually became "Lieutenant-General of the Naval Armies of the King" (i.e. Vice admiral) (French:Lieutenant-Général des armées navales du roi), and a Commander in the Order of Saint-Louis. Ten ships of the French Navy were named in his honour.

His family operated a shipping business in Saint Malo, a port favoured by corsairs.

He first went to sea as a volunteer aboard a privateer, the Trinité, under Captain Legoux, on the 16 December 1690. The Trinité subsequently captured the François Samuel and Seven Stars of Scotland. In 1692 his family provided him with command of his own vessel, a 14-gun lugger, Danycarn.

On 6 June 1692, King Louis XIV appointed Duguay-Truin to command of a forty-gun ship, the Hercule. He captured five ships at the entrance of the Channel.

In 1694 Louis XIV awarded Duguay-Truin with a sword of honour, and made him a nobleman in 1709, with the motto Dedit haec insignia virtus ("Bravery awarded these honours"). At the time, he had captured 16 warships and over 300 merchantmen from the English and Dutch.

On 12 April 1694, Duguay-Trouin, aboard the ship Diligente, covered the escape of a convoy which he was escorting but was defeated by a six-ship squadron commanded by Admiral David Mitchell. The Diligente, barely afloat and having lost most of her men, was forced to strike her colours and surrender and Duguay-Truin was taken as a prisoner to Plymouth.

The English admiralty, upon learning that Trouin had fired upon the Prince of Orange while flying the English flag, had him locked in an iron room. On 19 June 1694, he made an adventurous escape, by capturing a small boat that he had bought from a friendly Swedish captain whose ship was lying nearby. He was accompanied by Lieutenant Nicolas Thomas, surgeon Lhermite, Pierre Legendre and the quartermaster. After a series of raids on coastal towns in Ireland, Duguay-Truin returned to Saint-Malo.