Augusta where De Ruyter was mortally wounded. On 2 June he was present as second in command when the French fleet under Comte and Vivonne attacked and partly destroyed the combined Spanish-Dutch fleet at the Battle of Palermo, which secured French control of the Mediterranean. For this accomplishment he received a personal letter from Louis XIV and was given, in 1681, the title of marquis along with the estate of Bouchet, even though he was a Protestant. Duquesne also fought the Barbary pirates in 1681 and bombarded Algiers between 1682 and 1683. In response the Algerians tied the French consul Jean Le Vacher to their huge Baba Merzoug cannon and blasted him towards the French fleet in July 1683. Another French consul received the same treatment in 1688, and the cannon became known as La Consulaire. Duquesne bombarded Genoa in 1684. Last years In that same year, 1684, he retired from poor health. He may have foreseen the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, though he was exempted from the proscription. He died in Paris on 2 February 1688. Abraham's heart was placed in a silver box and sent to Aubonne, Switzerland after his death. More than a hundred years later in 1894 the box was discovered and moved to his birthplace in Dieppe. Trivia The Marquis Duquesne de Menneville, another famous mariner, was his grandnephew 8 vessels of the Royal French Navy have been named in his honour, see French ship Duquesne Notes 1610s births 1688 deaths French Navy admirals Huguenots People from Dieppe, Seine-Maritime