Auguste-Nicolas Vaillant (2 July 1793 – 1 November 1858) was a French sailor who worked his way up through the ranks from common seaman to rear-admiral.

[1] He was made Lieutenant on 4 August 1824, and the next year was given command of the Estafette, which was employed in turn in the Levant, at Tunis, and on the coasts of Catalonia and Romagna.

For his conduct in a storm in the Hellenic archipelago, and for a courageous expedition against the pirates of Andros, on 3 November 1827 he was awarded the cross of the Order of Saint Louis.

[1] The primary purpose of Vaillant's journey was to take several consular agents to various remote posts, but the staff also made many valuable scientific observations.

They passed the Strait of Gibraltar, crossed the Atlantic and reached Rio de Janeiro in Brazil in March 1836.

The return journey took La Bonite via the Mariana Islands, Manila in the Philippines, Canton, Singapore, Kolkata, Pondicherry, Réunion, the Cape of Good Hope and Saint Helena to Brest, which was reached on 6 November 1837.

[6] Vaillant returned to France at his request due to disagreement with the Commodore and was given command of the Santi-Petri in the Levant station.

On 1 May 1849 Vaillant was promoted to commodore (contre-amiral), and on 6 August 1849 was made second in command of the 2nd Mediterranean squadron, under Alexandre Ferdinand Parseval-Deschenes.

[9] Later in 1851 Vaillant was made governor-general of the French West Indies and commander of the naval stations in the Antilles and the Gulf of Mexico.