His two-frigate squadron once damaged a 74-gun ship of the line to the point of sinking, and he was entrusted with important personalities of the time as passengers, notably Louis XVI and Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette.

During the French Revolution, Latouche, a Freemason and aide to Phillipe Égalité, took progressive positions as a deputy in the Estates General and later in the National Constituent Assembly.

His father, Louis-Charles Le Vassor de La Touche, had been the governor of Martinique, until the Invasion of 1762, and chief of the naval forces of Rochefort.

[3] His uncle, Charles-Auguste Levassor de La Touche-Tréville,[4] served as a rear-admiral, commanding the light squadron of the France-Spanish fleet under Orvilliers in 1780.

[2] At the age of 13, Latouche joined the Gardes de la Marine,[2] and took part in numerous naval actions during the Seven Years' War.

[7] After the Treaty of Paris in 1763, Latouche took part in training campaigns under his uncle Latouche-Tréville and Admiral d'Estaing,[7] serving on the ships Garonne in 1763, and Hardi and Bricole in 1765.

[8] In 1771, he transferred as captain to the Régiment de La Rochefoucauld-Dragons, a dragoon regiment, and became aide-de-camp to Governor General Valière,[9] who commanded at Saint-Domingue.

In order to induce a tiring chase, Latouche let his ship's beacon be glimpsed intermittently, before doubling back to attack his opponent in the morning.

[13] From 21 March to 28 April 1780,[14] Latouche carried General Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette as a passenger on a transatlantic voyage from France to Boston.

[2][13] Then, joining the fleet under Rear-Admiral Destouches, and under orders from Barras and Ternay,[9] he directed the building of several artillery batteries for the defence of Rhode Island.

[15][Note 2] His opponent, Captain James Hawker, later accused him of fleeing the scene, to which Latouche replied "In my poor state, I could not pursue you.

In the resulting naval battle of Louisbourg, Astrée and Hermione forced HMS Charlestown to strike her colours, but failed to board her, allowing her to flee during the night.

[21] He then attempted to escape his much stronger opponents by sailing over the banks at the mouth of the Delaware River, but Aigle ran aground; Gloire also touched bottom, but she managed to free herself and reach the channel.

Admiral Vaudreuil wrote to the Minister of the Navy Castrie: Mister de la Touche deserves your reprimand; he had on board with him a kept woman with whom he lived; the English, having captured her, have returned her to him as though she was his wife.

[17] At the beginning of the French Revolution in 1789, Latouche-Tréville was elected deputy of the Nobility[1] for the bailiwick of Montargis; he went on to sit at the National Constituent Assembly and held this position until it adjourned on 10 October 1791.

[1] In September 1791, after king Louis XVI approved the new constitution, the National Constituent Assembly disbanded, and Latouche-Tréville resumed his naval activities.

[1] He took part in raids against Oneglia, Cagliari and Nice[24] during the Army of Italy, and joined in the attack on Sardinia in October 1792 (which turned out to be a failure when the expeditionary corps was repulsed).

[25] Latouche then departed, but had to double back to Napoli to repair due to gale-force winds, eventually making his rendezvous with Truguet on 8 February 1793.

[25] In March 1793, amid the War of the First Coalition, Latouche took command of the "Naval Army of the Ocean" (the Brest fleet), but as soon as he took up his position, revolutionary subordinates denounced him as an aristocrat.

[1] From 1797 to 1798, he managed equipment for the Navy with a ship-owner friend, and by 1799 he had grown so desperate that he advertised in Le Moniteur Universel for privateer captainships.

[1] Soon after, advised by Navy minister Forfait,[1] First Consul Bonaparte chose Latouche-Tréville to organise and lead the Flottille de Boulogne.

This vast fleet of small ships was ostensibly designed to ferry an invasion army to England,[1][26] but was in fact a disinformation ploy to pressure the British into negotiating the Treaty of Amiens.

[1] During the Peace of Amiens, Latouche-Tréville was appointed to command the naval squadron of Rochefort,[32] comprising six ships of the line, six frigates and two corvettes,[26] in the fleet of Admiral Villaret de Joyeuse,[1] ferrying 3,000 men of the Army of Rhine for the Saint-Domingue expedition.

Returned to France, he was appointed general inspector of the coasts of the Mediterranean, before taking command of the fleet of Toulon,[32] with his flag on the brand-new 80-gun Bucentaure.

In 1810, a seven-metre-high pyramidal mausoleum was built at the Sémaphore de la Croix des Signaux, at Cape Cépet, from where Latouche-Tréville had observed the British in his last year.