Jacques Bergeret

Bergeret was born in Bayonne on 15 May 1771, and joined the merchant navy at the age of 12, when he sailed to Pondicherry aboard the merchantman Bayonnaise.

Two years later, he volunteered for the French Royal Navy on the corvette Auguste, bound for an exploration campaign in the Red Sea.

Promoted to lieutenant, Bergeret was put in command of the frigate Virginie, and served in Villaret-Joyeuse's squadron in Brest.

Exchanged after a brief captivity, Bergeret was put in command of the Créole and ordered back to France with reports and despatches.

In February 1809, Bergeret was put in command of the Rochefort station, raising his pennant on the 80-gun Ville de Varsovie.

Bergeret and Willaumez fought over the responsibility for the fiasco, and Napoleon removed them both, replacing them with vice-admiral Zacharie Allemand.

At the Bourbon Restoration, Bergeret was put in command of a division to ferry Russian prisoners of war back home.