Abraham Duquesne (1610-2 February 1688) was a French admiral who served in the French Navy and Swedish Navy during the Franco-Spanish War, the Thirty Years' War, the Franco-Dutch War, and the War of the Reunions.
Biography[]
Abraham Duquesne was born in Dieppe, Normandy, France in 1610, and he became a naval captain in 1635 and captured Lerins from Spain in 1637. After his father's death at the hands of the Spanish, Duquesne fiercely fought against the Spanish at the 1638 Battle of Guetaria, the 1639 expedition to Corunna, and in the Catalonian campaign. In 1643, he joined the Swedish Navy during Sweden's war with Denmark, decisively defeating the Danes at the Battle of Fehmarn Belt. After the Swedes and Danes made peace in 1645, Duquesne returned to France. He went on to suppress a Spanish-backed revolt at Bordeaux in 1650 during the Fronde, for which he was promoted to Rear Admiral. After the end of the Franco-Spanish War in 1659, Duquesne was sent to the Mediterranean to battle the Barbary pirates. During the Franco-Dutch War, he distinguished himself at the Battle of Solebay before supporting the Sicilian revolt against Spain, defeating the Dutch-Spanish fleet at the Battle of Stromboli, the Battle of Augusta, and the Battle of Palermo. He received a personal letter from King Louis XIV in recognition of his services, and he became a Marquis in 1681 in spite of his Protestant faith. He fought the Barbary pirates again in 1681 and bombarded Algiers from 1682 to 1683, and he also bombarded Genoa in 1684. He retired that same year, and he died in Paris in 1688.