Édouard Bouët-Willaumez

Who was Édouard Bouët-Willaumez?

Louis Edouard Bouët-Willaumez was a French admiral.

He was born Louis Edouard Bouët, the son of a businessman in Maison-Lafitte, near Paris. Having joined the French Navy, in 1824 he embarked on a five-year voyage, first in the Mediterranean and then in the Indian Ocean.

In 1829 he was promoted to ship's Ensign, and served in the Morea expedition. In 1830 he was part of the blockade and capture of Algiers, followed by the blockade of Antwerp. Made Lieutenant in 1834, he was attached to the naval post at La Plata, from where he was sent to Senegal. In 1836 took command of the steamship L'Africain, with which he travelled 200 miles inland, up to the Félou Falls in upper Senegal. He was the only Westerner to return alive, the others having succumbed to disease.

In 1838 Bouët took command of the brig La Malouine, which charted a trade route along the African coast. Along the way he punished a native tribe that had plundered three trading ships, and signed a commercial treaty with the king of Gabon in 1839. In July 1840 he carried out a reconnaissance of the bay of Mogador and established a plan of attack.