After Amazone was wrecked at Cape of Good Hope, he attempted to return to Mauritius and inform the governor, but was captured en route by a British frigate.

[5][7] He then transferred on the 74-gun Tourville for a patrol the same month in June In 1792, he became a midshipman,[note 2] and served on the brand-new frigate Aréthuse in Toulon,[8] under his father who had recently been promoted to captain.

[8] On 17 February 1803,[8] Bouvet was appointed to the frigate Atalante,[6] under Captain Gaudin-Beauchêne,[8][12] in the division of Rear-Admiral Linois sent to recover the French colonies of the Indies according to the terms of the Treaty of Amiens, under the overall command of General Decaen.

Belle-Poule and Atalante detached and conducted independent commerce raiding cruises, while Linois returned to Mauritius;[12] They notably captured the East Indiamen Athia, Princess Royal and Heroism.

[13] Governor Decaen having sent Linois back to France, the division departed in May 1805;[13] while attempting to rejoining it, on 3 November 1805, Atalante was washed ashore by a gust of wind and wrecked near the Cape of Good Hope.

[14] Captain Gaudin-Beauchêne sent Bouvet to Mauritius with despatches for governor Decaen,[8] and he embarked on the American brig Charles,[13] but was taken prisoner by a British cruiser,[6] HMS Pitt, and taken to Mumbai.

[8] Formally exchanged in spring 1807,[6][8] he named the ship Entreprenant on 30 November 1807, and on 7 December, he departed with a 40-man crew to cruise off the Western coast of India.

[8] With her unassuming indigenous appearance, Entreprenant sailed undetected amongst Indian patamars off the Malabar Coast; on 8 February,[8] she captured the British mercantile brig Marguerite after a 3-hour battle.

[15] On 24 May 1809, Decaen promoted him to acting Commander[6][17] He was then tasked with a mission to Manila to investigate the fate of Mouche n° 6, under Lieutenant Ducrest de Villeneuve,[20][21] disappeared there a few months before.

Anchoring his ship off shore under a flag of truce, Bouvet sent a delegation to demand the release of the crew of Mouche n° 6, with orders to return to Entreprenant as soon as the message was delivered.

[22] In order to obtain a clear casus belli, Bouvet anchored his ship at the entrance of Manila Bay, but stayed ready to set sail.

[25] On Minerve, he took part in the action of 3 July 1810, where he single-handedly engaged the East Indiamen Ceylon, Windham and Astell for one hour before the rest of Duperré's squadron rejoined him.

Since the Invasion of Île Bonaparte and consequent fall of La Réunion in early 9 July 1810, the British had planned the complete their conquest of the French possessions in the Indian Ocean by also invading Mauritius.

[28] Astrée and Iphigénie sailed to Mauritius for resupply and repair, captured the British East India Company's Bombay Marine's 14-gun sloop-of-war Aurora en route, and arrived at Port-Nord-Ouest on 22 September.

[28] Under the terms of the capitulation, the French garrison was repatriated[29] and on 11 April 1811, Bouvet embarked on the cartel Adèle, bound for France where he arrived on 14 August, landing in Morlaix.

[28][33] On 25 November 1812, Bouvet's division departed from Nantes, sailed to Cape Verde and Guinea, and anchored at Îles de Los;[28] on its way, on 27 January, it destroyed HMS Daring[33] and released her crew on parole.

In the night of 4 February, a violent storm struck the island;[28] Rubis broke her cables and was thrown aground on the shore of Tamara;[33] deeming her impossible to refloat and recover, her crew scuttled her by fire the next day.

[34] Probably because of these mixed reviews, Bouvet was appointed Officer of the Legion of Honour, on 2 July, but was neither promoted to Rear-Admiral, nor made a Baron of the Empire, as had been requested in his favour.

[4] On 1 October 1813, Bouvet was relieved from duty due to ill health and replaced by Captain Le Bozec,[33] and transferred the harbour service in Brest.

[4] It was not until after the Bourbon Restoration, on 21 June 1814, that he sailed again, at the command of the frigate Flore,[4] and was sent for a mission in Antwerp[3] to escort eleven transport ships to Brest,[34] and to Senegal to ferry ammunitions.

[4] Bouvet relinquished command of Flore on 25 August 1815 and was given a leave of absence until 31 December, after which he was given no duty[4] On 1 November 1817, he was finally ordered to Brest for harbour service,[4] but started requesting his retirement to care for his ailing wife, who was almost blind.

[34] In 1833, Bouvet resigned as a member of the Council for Colonies for La Réunion,[4] and in June, he married Marie-Thérèse Le Muey in Granville.

[34] He wrote a bitter account of his campaign,[3] Précis des campagnes du capitaine de vaisseau Pierre Bouvet, which he published in 1840.