The naval officer Charles Jean d'Hector (1722-1808) was already an old man when he emigrated to Britain in 1791 to join the royalist forces.

There he raised and commanded the 600-man Corps de la marine royale, exclusively made up of old naval officers.

[1] When his regiment was assigned to the Quiberon Expedition it left without its commander but with good morale and discipline, bolstered to 700 men by republican sailors freed from British prisoner-of-war camps and by sailors, officers and prisoners from Toulon and Brittany.

A few prisoners managed to escape, including d'Antrechaux and de Chaumareix, the latter of whom went on to command the La Méduse.

It disbanded on 24 October 1795 at the campaign's end but was re-formed two years later in England, again with the comte d'Hector as its colonel.