Louis Dartige du Fournet

Louis René Charles Marie Dartige du Fournet (Putanges-Pont-Écrepin, 2 March 1856 – Périgueux, 16 February 1940) was a French vice admiral during World War I.

Family

The Dartige du Fournet family is a surviving family of the old French bourgeoisie, originally from Felletin, in what is now the Creuse department of France. The progenitor of the family was François Dartige (1600–1674), bourgeois and postmaster at Felletin. It was in the 19th century that the Dartige family took up the name "du Fournet," the surname of a family of former nobility, now extinct, some of whose members were close to Bertrand du Guesclin. The Dartige du Fournet family still owns the Château du Fournet, in Saint-Judoce, France.

Biography Early and personal life Louis Dartige du Fournet was born Louis Dartige in Putanges-Pont-Écrepin, France, on 2 March 1856, but his father, Louis Auguste Dartige (receiver of registration and domains), was authorized by presidential decree in 1877 to add "du Fournet" to the family name, reviving the name borne by one of his maternal ancestors and recalling the Château du Fournet in Saint-Judoce, in Côtes-du-Nord (now Côtes-d'Armor), where his father lived. (The chateau still houses a portrait of Louis Dartige du Fournet). His mother was Sidonie Olympe Mourin d'Arfeuille. He married Marie Vauquelin de la Rivière, then Edmée de la Borie de la Batut.

Naval career Early career Dartige du Fournet entered the Ecole Navale (the French naval academy) on 5 October 1872, coming aboard the school ship Borda, which housed the academy, at Brest, France. He graduated as his class's valedictorian. He became a midshipman 2nd class on 1 August 1874, and soon was promoted to midshipman first class. He embarked on the central battery ironclad on 5 October 1875

Promoted to capitaine de frégate (frigate captain) on 18 September 1893,

Dartige du Fournet took command of the Allied Dardanelles Squadron in September 1915 with the battleship as his flagship. It set up particularly active intelligence centers there which operated throughout the war.

A French warship embarks Armenian refugees from Musa Dagh in September 1915. On 5 September 1915, Armenians entrenched on Musa Dagh on 12 and 13 September 1915. The ships transported them to Port Saïd. Dartige du Fournet continues to be regarded as a hero by Armenians for his actions in September 1915.

On 10 October 1915, Dartige du Fournet replaced Vide Admiral Augustin Boué de Lapeyrère as Allied commander in the Mediterranean Sea. He became a Grand officer of the Legion of Honour on 8 January 1916. In the autumn of 1916, Venizelos and his supporters created a separate Greek government at Salonica, and the French then led Allied efforts to pressure Constantine I into a more pro-Allied stance. Dartige du Fournet transferred to the naval reserve in February 1917. He was rehabilitated by the end of the war, but married and retired in 1918 to his villa, Paknam, in Périgueux, France.

Death Dartige du Fournet died on 16 February 1940 at Périgueux. He is buried in Saint-Chamassy in Dordogne, France.

Honors and awards

Publications

Instructions nautiques sur les mers de Chine. Introduction. Navigation générale. Collationnées par le service des instructions nautiques au Dépôt de la marine, 3 vol., Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1883–1884 Journal d'un commandant de la Comète: Chine, Siam, Japon (1892–1893), Paris, Plon-Nourrit, 1897 - Prix Auguste-Furtado de l’Académie française Petite Mousmé, Paris: Plon-Nourrit, 1907. Réédition: Paris, Pondichéry, Éditions Kailash, 2009 (novel originally published under the pseudonym "Gabriel Hautemer") Souvenirs de guerre d'un amiral, 1914–1916, Paris, Plon-Nourrit, 1920 Heures lointaines. Souvenirs d'un marin, Paris, Plon, 1928 À travers les mers. Souvenirs d'un marin, Paris, Plon, 1929 Portraits de Famille. Souvenirs intimes, Périgueux, imprimerie Ribes, 14 rue Antoine-Gadaud, 1938

In media

The French actor Jean Reno portrayed Dartige du Fournet in the American 2016 film The Promise.