Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse

Vice-Admiral Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse (29 May 1747 – 24 July 1812) was a French Navy officer and politician who served in the American Revolutionary War and French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Born in Auch, Gascony, after serving in the Indian Ocean under Suffren during the Revolutionary War he rose in rank during the early stages of the French Revolution. Villaret commanded the French navy at the Glorious First of June, where despite suffering a heavy tactical defeat at British hands he ensured the passage of a vital grain convoy to France.

Villaret led the French navy during the disastrous Croisière du Grand Hiver and failed to prevent a British fleet from successfully retreating, with his last battle being a defeat off Groix. He was relieved when he refused to serve for the disastrous French expedition to Ireland. Villaret was then elected at the Council of Five Hundred. He joined the Club de Clichy, a party which supported French colonialism and slavery and harboured Royalist sympathies. After the Coup of 18 Fructidor, Villaret was sentenced to be deported to Cayenne but went into hiding long enough for his sentence to be commuted to exile to Oléron, where he went willingly.

Reinstated in 1801, Villaret took command of the naval component of the Saint-Domingue expedition, and was appointed captain general of Martinique and Saint Lucia alongside the colonial prefect Charles-Henri Bertin. He served in this capacity until the British captured Martinique in 1809. Returned to France, Villaret fell in disfavour for his perceived weak defence during the invasion. After two years, Napoleon pardoned him and appointed him as governor of Venice. Villaret died there of edema in 1812.