Maurice Bossuet (1777-early April 1799) was an Admiral of the French First Republic during the French Revolutionary Wars. Bossuet carried Jean-Baptiste Kleber's French army from Cyprus to Lebanon in 1799 during the Egyptian Campaign, and he was killed in a naval battle against the Ottoman Navy off Beirut.
Biography[]
Maurice Bossuet was born in Marseilles, France in 1777, and he joined the French Navy as a boy, serving aboard French warships during the War of the First Coalition against the British Royal Navy. Bossuet was promoted to the rank of admiral in late March 1799 because he was known to be cool under fire and a harsh-but-fair commander, taking charge of a French fleet at Famagusta in Cyprus. Bossuet ferried Jean-Baptiste Kleber's army from Cyprus to Lebanon to capture the Ottoman city of Beirut, and his ship Union would be attacked by the Ottoman frigate Salim Deli in early April 1799 off the coast of Beirut. Bossuet was killed when the Ottomans boarded his ship, and his ship was captured by the Turks.