Petit-Thouars was born in Bordeaux-en-Gâtinais, Loiret. He was adopted by his maternal uncle Vice Admiral Abel Aubert du Petit-Thouars, a member of the Aubert Du Petit-Thouars family, originating from Touraine, and a noble family since 1711. adding the du Petit-Thouars surname to his name.
When he was 15 years old, he entered the École navale, incorporating himself to the French Navy when he was 21 years old.[2]
Military career
He took part in the Crimean War, where he was wounded and was made a Knight of the Légion d'honneur.[3] In 1868, he commanded the corvetteDupleix during the Japanese revolution. On 8 March 1868, a skiff sent to Sakai was attacked by samurai retainers of the daimyō of Tosa; 11 sailors and a midshipman were killed. The attack and French demands for punishment of the samurai involved became known as the Sakai incident.[4] In 1870, he commanded a floating battery on the Rhine river during the Franco-Prussian War.[3] As a rear admiral, he was in charge of the 1880 pacification of the Marquesas Islands, which had been conquered by his uncle Abel Aubert du Petit-Thouars forty years before.[3]
On the way back to France from his mission in the Marquesas Islands, he commanded the French Navy's observation mission at the War of the Pacific. As the Lima campaign saw success after success, and the occupation of Lima became imminent, reports of Chilean destruction resulted in a meeting between the different observing powers, concluding that such an event would not be allowed in Lima proper. His role in the defense of Lima, had the Chilean army attacked the city as it had done in Barranco, Chorrillos and Miraflores, would have been to use his fleet against the occupying army.[2][3] According to Peruvian historiography, this was accomplished due to Petit-Thouars communicating directly with Chilean commander-in-chief of the occupation, Manuel Baquedano. According to Chilean historiography, however, negotiations were led by Royal Navy admiral J. M. Sterling. Nevertheless, what is known is that Petit-Thouars' role prevented a bombardment of the city.
