Rigault de Genouilly

Charles Rigault de Genouilly
Charles Rigault de Genouilly
Born	1807 Rochefort, France
Died	1873 Barcelona, Spain
Allegiance	Second French Empire
Service/branch	French Navy
Rank	Amiral de France
Battles/wars	Bombardment of Da Nang Crimean War Second Opium War Cochinchina Campaign

Admiral Pierre-Louis-Charles Rigault de Genouilly (12 April 1807 – 4 May 1873) was a French naval officer. He fought with distinction in the Crimean War and the Second Opium War, but is chiefly remembered today for his command of French and Spanish forces during the opening phase of the Cochinchina campaign (1858–62), which inaugurated the French conquest of Vietnam.

Charles Rigault de Genouilly was born and raised in Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, France, into a family with naval connections. His father was a naval engineer and his mother, Adélaïde-Caroline Mithon de Genouilly, was the niece and adopted daughter of Claude Mithon de Genouilly, a naval commander during the American War of Independence.

Rigault de Genouilly entered the École Polytechnique in 1825. He entered the navy as a midshipman in 1827, and served in the Morea expedition aboard the frigate Fleur de Lys during the Greek War of Independence. In 1828 he was transferred to Résolue, and took part in operations against pirates in the Greek archipelago.

Promoted enseigne de vaisseau in 1830, he participated in the French expedition against Algiers and the forcing of the Tagus in 1831. In 1832 he served aboard Ducreuse during the blockade of the Dutch coast in the Belgian War of Independence. He was promoted lieutenant de vaisseau in 1834.

In 1843, he assumed command of the corvette Victorieuse on the China and India Seas station, and took part in an expedition to explore the Yellow Sea. On 25 April 1847 Victorieuse and Gloire (capitaine de vaisseau Augustin de Lapierre), which had been sent to Da Nang (Tourane) to negotiate for the release of two French Catholic missionaries, were attacked without warning by several Vietnamese vessels, in an incident known as the Bombardment of Tourane. The two French ships fought back, and with their superior armament rapidly destroyed their attackers. In August 1847 Victorieuse ran aground on the coast of Korea, but Rigault de Genouilly was exonerated from blame by a court of enquiry.