Abel Bergasse du Petit Thouars , was born in Bordeaux in 1832 and, at the age of fifteen, entered the French naval school (1847). He participated in the Crimean War in 1855, forming part of the officers of the "Montebello" (1855), but when he was wounded he had to be immediately evacuated. After serving on different ships, he was promoted to the rank of frigate captain (1864). Seriously wounded again when he participated in the Franco-Prussian War (1870), as a member of the Rhine flotilla in Strasbourg, he was taken prisoner. In 1873 he directed the Toulon artillery school. With the rank of rear admiral and at the head of the South Seas Division, he was found in 1877 on a peacekeeping mission in the Marquesas Islands.
Petit Thouars arrives in America
His next destination was Valparaíso, but considering the turn that the events of the war between Peru and Chile were taking, he decided to go to Callao, a port that had been blocked by enemy ships since 1880. According to historian Percy Cayo, by the end of that year “numerous Chilean transports protected by warships began the landing of important groupings of forces. The first landings -always from the south- were made in quite distant places such as Pisco; but when verifying the absence of a Peruvian resistance, some of those troops re-embarked and other new contingents landed somewhat further north:Chilca, Curayaco, later arriving even in Lurín”, that is, closer and closer to Lima. On January 7, 1881, just before the battles of the campaign in defense of Lima, Admiral Petit Thouars made port. He immediately took charge of reaching an agreement with the commanders of the English, North American, German and Italian ships that were at anchor between Ancón and Callao; to protect the civilian population of Lima against any excess or mistreatment by the enemy. He maintained tight control over train traffic, ensuring that it was not interrupted, to allow the Evacuation of women and children from Lima. He assisted the wounded in the battle of Chorrillos and, after the battle of San Juan (January 13, 1881), he was one of the diplomatic representatives who met with Nicolás de Piérola and General Manuel Baquedano to arrange a armistice, during a truce that was violated by the Chileans, beginning the battle of Miraflores (January 15, 1881). In his capacity as officer with the highest hierarchy among the foreign squadrons anchored in Callao, Admiral Petit Thouars supported the mayor of Lima Rufino Torrico to agree with the Chilean victors the peaceful occupation of the city, with the guarantee of the accredited diplomatic corps in the capital, which was agreed on January 16. Towards 1885 he is found again in his native land holding the position of naval prefect of Cherbourg. Appointed commander of the Mediterranean squadron in 1889, he died on May 14 of the following year in Toulon . A wide avenue and a colorful monument perpetuate in Lima the name and effigy of this generous French sailor.