A Privateer of the King and then of the Republic. A great sailor from the tradition of the Royal Navy. Pierre Edouard Plucket was born in 1759 in Dunkirk, a city of sailors. At the age of 12, he took to the sea, and from then on his destiny would be shaped by the sea spray, naval battles against the hereditary enemy, the English, the perfidious Albion. This book is both a chapter of our naval history and a tribute to this great, unjustly forgotten sailor.
Thanks to André Mabille De Poncheville, the logbook of this privateer is delivered to us. A young cabin boy under Louis XV, then an officer under Louis XVI, one of the heroes of the American Revolution; with the revolution, Pierre Edouard Plucket continues his brilliant naval career. With the Directory, the soldier is disappointed by the political turn of events.
This book, written like a logbook, portrays an incorruptible man whose sole purpose was the honor of France’s arms. This brilliant soldier leaves the navy as it no longer aligns with his sense of fairness and duty. He would live through the Consulate, the Empire, the Restoration, the July Monarchy, and die in his hometown in 1845.
This book is a valuable tool to understand the distinction between piracy and privateering, where the letter of marque issued by the king or the Convention gave them full authority to pursue the enemies of the kingdom of the Lilies and then of the republic.
Thierry Jan
