"The Statue
In 1844, the full-length statue of Duquesne was inaugurated in Dieppe, a bronze after the original plaster exhibited by Antoine Laurent Dantan at the Salon of 1843. This statue stands in the middle of what is now Place Nationale. The inscription on the pedestal was made only in June 1875.
On the pedestal, in the front: ABRAHAM DUQUESNE / LIEUTENANT GENERAL / OF THE NAVAL ARMIES OF FRANCE / BORN IN DIEPPE IN 1610 / DEATH IN PARIS IN 1688 Dantan aîné 1842 seal of the founder: Eck et Durand.
The Character
Abraham Duquesne (then du Quesne after his ennoblement), Baron d'Indret from 1650 then Marquis du Quesne in 1682, born in Dieppe in 1610 and died on February 2, 1688 in Paris, is one of the great officers of the Navy 17th century French.
Born into a Huguenot family at the beginning of the 17th century, he embarked for the first time under the orders of his father, a ship's captain. He served under Louis XIII during the Thirty Years' War and distinguished himself on several occasions, notably in the battles of Tarragona and Cape Gata, but had to leave the navy in 1644 after losing a ship.
During the troubles of the minority of Louis XIV, he obtained permission from Mazarin to serve in the Royal Swedish Navy, along with his brother. He took part in the war of Torstenson which opposed the kingdom of Sweden to Denmark and distinguished himself in the battle of Fehmarn by taking the flagship of the commander of the Danish fleet Pros Mund.
Back in France, he rejoined the Royal Navy and was sent in 1669 to help Candia, besieged by the Turks. He took part in the Dutch War (1672-1678) and fought at the Battle of Solebay (1672) and at Alicudi (January 1676). But it was at the battle of Agosta (April 1676) and that of Palermo that he particularly distinguished himself. He ended his career with the rank of lieutenant general of the naval armies, hampered in his advancement by his religion, which he refused to recant despite the insistence of Louis XIV and his advisers (Colbert and Bossuet)."