Early Career
Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse was born in Auch, in the heart of Gascony. The Villaret de Joyeuse family figured among the minor nobility from Languedoc. He originally joined the gendarmes du roi, but he had to leave at sixteen after killing one of his comrades in a duel.
Unable to enter the elite naval schools, he entered the navy as a volontaire in 1768. In 1773, he served as a lieutenant on the Atalante in the Indian Ocean. In 1778, he distinguished himself at the siege of Pondicherry, earning the rank of capitaine de brûlot (fireship captain).
He then served under Suffren, who made him his aide in 1782. He was later transferred to the frigate Dauphine, and became first officer aboard Suffren's ship of the line Brillant.
In 1782 Suffren gave him a seemingly impossible mission: escape the English fleet and warn the two ships of the line and two frigates blockading Madras about a superior English fleet. "You will probably be taken on your way out or on your way back, make out as you can, but fight well!". He set out in the small frigate Naïade. After four days, he encountered the 64-gun HMS Sceptre. Villaret eluded his opponent by sailing in shallow waters, where his larger and heavier opponent could not follow. Close to Madras, he finally engaged the English ship, striking his colours after a five-hour battle, Naïade having over two metres of water in her hull. The English captain refused to accept Villaret's sword, saying: "Sir, you have given us a fairly beautiful frigate, but you made us pay dearly for her!". Villaret was taken prisoner, but the sound of the battle had warned the French squadron, which escaped. Villaret was exchanged in 1783, and after the battle of Cuddalore (20 June 1783), Suffren gave him command of the frigate Bellone. Villaret was made Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Louis in July. He was promoted to lieutenant de vaisseau in 1784 for his service. After the war, Villaret served in the harbour of Lorient.
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