Francois de Grasse

Francois de Grasse, full name François Joseph Paul, Comte de Grasse (1722-88), French naval commander. He joined the fleet of the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem (Knights of Malta) in 1734 and six years later entered the French navy. In 1781, during the American Revolution, he commanded the French fleet sent to the West Indies and participated with distinction in an engagement with the British near the West Indian island of Tobago. He subsequently commanded (1781) French naval forces in Chesapeake Bay and prevented the British fleet under Admiral Thomas Graves from aiding General Charles Cornwallis, then besieged at Yorktown by American and French armies. Following his return to the West Indies, de Grasse was defeated by the British admiral George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney, off Santo Domingo in 1782. As a result he was charged with incompetence and court-martialed. Although exonerated, he did not again hold a naval command.