In December 1796 he served with the fleet which participated in the Expédition d'Irlande, a failed attempt to invade the Kingdom of Ireland with an army led by Lazare Hoche as Lieutenant on a ship named l'Aigle, and was made a prisoner at Bantry.

Proteau was named capitaine de frégate on 24 September 1799, and on 7 January 1801, he was given command of the frigate Indienne.

On 12 April 1809, the fleet was attacked by British fireships at the Battle of the Basque Roads, and Indienne was driven ashore and later destroyed.

After the Bourbon Restoration, he was made a chevalier de Saint-Louis on 21 August 1814, and in October 1814, he was sent by Louis XVIII, to Kœnigsberg in Prussia, to negotiate the return of French prisoners of war.

A barracks at Cherbourg is named after Proteau, accommodating the École des applications militaires de l'énergie atomique.