Pierre Jean Van Stabel

Pierre Jean Van Stabel , born and died in Dunkirk (1744 - 1797).

A corsair of Dunkirk

It began its maritime career into sailing with the trade in 1758.

At the time of the war of America, it sailed initially as a Corsaire. Ordering the Rohan Soubise , small building corsair of Dunkirk, it seized an English corsair, the Admiral Rodney of 16 guns. It was wounded of two balls in the throat at the time of the very hard combat. This was worth to him to receive its patent of auxiliary lieutenant of frigate and it joined the royal navy. It became a kind of specialist in the escort in the convoys, tries to which it was often affected in the years which followed.

Rear-admiral under the Revolution

Only sign of vessel in 1790, but captain as of the promotion of January 1793, ordering the Tiger of 74 guns, it succeeds, in the first months of the war against England, to seize in the Atlantic, by surprise, of 17 ships of a convoy escorted by considerable English forces. This exploit brought an immediate promotion as rear-admiral to him.

The Comité of Public Hello then charged it organizing, leading and with escorting with a division (6 vessels of 74 guns, 3 frigates, 3 corvettes), a convoy of the United States until Brest in 1794 to supply famished France. When it arrived at bay of the Chesapeake, place envisaged of the gathering, it had to note that nothing was ready and it is at ransom price that he managed to gather 127 primarily French buildings or American whom he charged with the ordering of the government: 67.000 barrels of flour, 376 rice barrels, 7163 of sugar, 11241 of coffee, 1139 cod, ivory, leather, boot, skin, cocoa, indigo, cotton bolls wood ball, from suffers, etc, of what, if were not to save the country of the famine, at least to temporarily attenuate the shortage in France into full Terreur, besieged and in war against almost the whole of Europe.

It left Chesapeake on April 10th, 1794 whereas nobody believed in his chances of success because the English Amirauté, informed well, sent to intercept it the essence of its fleet of the Manche (about thirty ship of the lines) under the orders of the admiral Lord Howe. A small squadron under the orders of the rear-admiral Nielly was sent urgently to the meeting of the convoy from Brest while the essence of the French fleet of the Ocean under the orders of Villaret Joyeuse patrolled between handle and the Atlantic to draw aside the forces of Lord Howe. The fleets Frenchwoman and English after being itself a long time sought clashed the 10 then the 13 meadow year II (June 1st, 1794): in the decisive battle called by English “Glorious First off June”, 6 French vessels were taken and cast. The battle made it possible however to draw aside the English forces of the road of the convoy that neither the French nor the English sent to his meeting succeeded in finding.

Carrying out escort and convoy of hand of Master, Van Stabel reached the roads of Brest on June 13rd, not only without to have lost only one building but while moreover having enlarged its convoy of a good number of catches carried out on the way. Its mission was a rare total success for the French navy in these difficult years.

It took part then under Villaret Joyeuse in disastrous the Croisière of the Great Winter (December 1794, January 1795). He still successfully escorted an important convoy towards Ostend in 1795. It ordered a squadron in Dunkirk in 1796 and 1797 when it died suddenly, patient and exhausted continuations of its old wounds, which deprived the republican marine of the one of her - rare - brilliances navigators and admirals. Its death before the advent of the First Empire will not enable him to have its name on the Triumphal arch and the lapse of memory into which it fell today can be regarded as a great injustice.

Souces

Georges Bordonove, sailors of year II , Editions Robert Laffont, 1974
Georges Six, biographical Dictionary of the generals and admirals of the Revolution and the Empire , Historical Bookstore and Peerage-book, Georges Saffroy editor, Paris 1934

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