Jean-Baptiste Perrée (19 December 1761 – 18 February 1800) was a French Navy officer and Rear-admiral. Career Born to a family of sailors in Saint-Valery-sur-Somme, Perrée started sailing in 1773 at the age of twelve as a boy on the merchantman Glorieuse, under his father. In the course of the following twenty years, he steadily rose in rank in the merchant navy, took part in a campaign on the fluyt Boulonnaise in the French Royal Navy as an aid-pilot, and earned his commission of Sea captain in 1785. Commerce raiding on Proserpine In 1793, when France declared war to England on the backdrop of the War of the First Coalition, Perrée enlisted in the Navy as an acting Ensign. In September 1793, he was reported to be commanding a frigate squadron in the Western Mediterranean, fighting the inconclusive Action of 22 October 1793 against Captain Horatio Nelson. Promoted to acting Lieutenant in May 1794, and took command of the frigate Proserpine in April 1794 to conduct Commerce raiding operations; in his eight-month campaign, he captured over 63 British merchantmen and a 32-gun Dutch frigate on 21 May. On 13 September 1794, Perrée was Captain, and was appointed to command a naval division in the Mediterranean, comprising the frigate Alceste, under Lieutenant Lejoille, and the 18-gun brig Hazard, under Lieutenant Leduc. The division returned to Toulon on 10 October. He set sail for another mission on 15 November, this time on Minerve, in consort with Alceste and the 20-gun corvette Brune, under Ensign Deniéport. The division cruised in the Mediterranean and sailed for a diplomatic mission to Tunis before returning to Toulon on 29 December. On 4 February 1795, Perrée cruised again on Minerve, this time in consort with the frigate Sérieuse, under Lieutenant Saunier. The two frigates cruised in the Mediterranean together until Sérieuse detached to ferry funds to Algiers. Minerve returned to Toulon on 24 February, and Sérieuse, on 20 May. In September 1795, was given command of a four-frigate and two-corvette squadron to prey on British shipping off the Western coast of Africa and raid their settlements; during the campaign, he captured 54 merchantmen. On 26 April 1796, Perrée departed with the Mediterranean squadron, commanding the brand-new frigate Diane and ferrying diplomats, supplies and ammunitions to Constantinople until 14 November. In early 1797, Perrée took command of the naval division of the Adriatic Sea as a Rear-Admiral. The