Armand Joseph Bruat

Armand Joseph Bruat (May 26, 1796 in Colmar – November 19, 1855 at sea) was a French admiral.

Bruat joined the French Navy in 1811, at the height of the Napoleonic Wars. His early career included far-ranging sea duties: in 1815, he served in Brazil and the West Indies. From 1817 to 1820 he was with French forces in the Levant. Then, until 1824, he was stationed first in Senegal and then the Pacific.

As a Lieutenant, Bruat took part in the 1827 Battle of Navarino. In 1830, he received command of a brig, only to suffer a shipwreck and become a prisoner in Algeria. He was exchanged in 1831, promoted to Captain and then made the Governor of the Marquesas Islands in 1843. During this time, he was also France's agent at the court of Queen Pomare of Tahiti, where he was able to convince her to acknowledge a French protectorate over her realm.

In 1849, Bruat became Governor-General of the Antilles and in 1852 was promoted to Vice Admiral. In 1854, during the Crimean War, he was named Commander of the French Fleet in the Black Sea. He died at sea while returning to France, on November 19, 1855.

External links

* [http://slacker.com/photos/colmar/bruat_fountain A photograph of an 1864 fountain in Colmar, France, which depicts the admiral]