Joseph Léon de La Marthonie

Joseph Léon de La Marthonie (27 March 1727 – 6 August 1789) was a French naval officer of the eighteenth century. During the American Revolutionary War he commanded the 64-gun ship of the line Jason and subsequently the 74-gun Pluton, which he commanded at the Battle of Martinique on 17 April 1780.

Family background

La Marthonie belonged to the La Marthonie family, a noble family originating in Périgord. A branch of the family had settled in Saintonge and held the lordship of Gaignon, near Saintes. He was a son of Léon-Raymond de La Marthonie, seigneur of Gaignon, and his second wife, Suzanne de Galateau. The genealogist François-Alexandre Aubert de La Chesnaye Des Bois also records Joseph Léon's marriage to Louise-Marthe de Sertes.

Naval career

La Marthonie entered the French Navy in the eighteenth century and ultimately reached the rank of brigadier des armées navales. His surviving personnel file is preserved by the Service historique de la Défense at Vincennes under the reference MV CC 7 ALPHA 1691; the service's published personnel index identifies him as a capitaine de vaisseau.

The surviving naval correspondence provides documentary evidence for several of his commands. In 1767 he commanded the four-gun corvette Lunette. In 1770, correspondence sent from Rochefort identifies the chevalier de La Marthonie as commander of the 64-gun ship of the line Bizarre.

By 1779 La Marthonie commanded the 64-gun Jason.

American Revolutionary War

Command of Jason La Marthonie's command of Jason is independently documented in the papers of two future presidents of the United States. In December 1779, John Adams was travelling to Europe on a diplomatic mission when the French frigate Sensible, on which he was a passenger, put into Ferrol in Spain after developing a serious leak. Three French ships of the line were then at Ferrol: the 80-gun Triomphant, the 74-gun Souverain and the 64-gun Jason.

In his diary Adams recorded the French commanders by name and stated that "Mr. de la Marthonie" commanded Jason.

On 11 December 1779 La Marthonie invited Adams's twelve-year-old son John Quincy Adams to dine aboard Jason. The younger Adams went aboard with his brother Charles and John Thaxter. His diary records that the captain and officers were "exceeding polite". The editors of the Adams Papers identify the captain as La Marthonie.

Command of Pluton The Battle of Martinique on 17 April 1780, depicted by Auguste-Louis de Rossel de Cercy. La Marthonie commanded the 74-gun Pluton.

In 1780 La Marthonie commanded the 74-gun ship of the line Pluton. The Archives nationales inventory records correspondence relating to La Marthonie and Pluton during the 1780 campaign.

Pluton formed part of the West Indies fleet commanded by Luc Urbain de Bouëxic, comte de Guichen. On 17 April 1780 Guichen's fleet encountered the British fleet of Admiral George Rodney off Martinique. Troude's published order of battle places the 74-gun Pluton, under La Marthonie's command, in the French blue-and-white squadron during the ensuing Battle of Martinique, also known as the Battle of Dominica.

Death and archival record

La Marthonie died at Saintes on 6 August 1789, aged 62.

His individual naval personnel file is preserved at the Service historique de la Défense in Vincennes under the reference MV CC 7 ALPHA 1691.