biography
| name: |
Barth or Bart, Jean
|
pronunciation:
[bah(r)t]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1650–1702)
|
| biography:
| Privateer, born in Dunkirk, NW France. He served first in the Dutch navy, but on the outbreak of war with Holland joined the French service. In 1691, in command of a small squadron in the North Sea, he destroyed many English vessels. In 1694, after a desperate struggle with a superior Dutch fleet, he recaptured a convoy of 96 ships and brought them to Dunkirk. Soon after he was taken prisoner and carried to Plymouth, but escaped in a fishing-boat to France. King Louis XIV received him with distinction at Versailles, and in 1697 appointed him to the command of a squadron. |
|
|
