ve with his father. Bouvet
served in the East Indies in the famous campaign of 1781-83 under the
command of Suffren, but only in a subordinate rank. On the outbreak of
the French Revolution he very naturally took the anti-royalist side.
Murder and exile had removed the great majority of the officers of the
monarchy, and the services of a man of Bouvet's experience were
valuable. He was promoted captain and received the command of the
"Audacieux" (80) in the first great fleet collected by the republic. In
the same year (1793) he was advanced to rear-admiral, and he commanded a
division in the fleet which fought the battle of the 1st of June 1794
against Lord Howe. Until the close of 1796 he continued in command of a
squadron in the French Channel fleet. In the December of that year he
was entrusted with the van division of the fleet which was sent from
Brest to attempt to land General Hoche with an expeditionary force in
the south of Ireland. The stormy weather which scattered the French as
soon as they left Brest gave Bouvet a prominence which he had not been
designed to enjoy. Bouvet, who found himself at daybreak on the 17th of
December separated with nine sail of the line from the rest of the
fleet, opened his secret orders, and found that he was to make his way
to Mizen Head. He took a wide course to avoid meeting British cruisers,
and on the 19th had the good luck to fall in with a considerable part of
the rest of the fleet and some of the transports. On the 21st of
December he arrived off Dursey Island at the entry to Bantry Bay. On the
24th he anchored near Bear Island with part of his fleet. The continued
storms which blew down Bantry Bay, and the awkwardness of the French
crews, made it impossible to land the troops he had with him. On the
evening of the 25th the storm increased to such a pitch of violence that
the frigate in which Bouvet had hoisted his flag was blown out to sea.
The wind moderated by the 29th, but Bouvet, being convinced that none of
the ships of his squadron could have remained at the anchorage, steered
for Brest, where he arrived on the 1st of January 1797. His fortune had
been very much that of his colleagues in this storm-tossed expedition,
and on the whole he had shown more energy than most of them. He was
wrong, however, in thinking that all his squadron had failed to keep
their anchorage in Bantry Bay. The government, displeased by his
precipitate return to Brest, dismissed him from comm