He continued to serve at sea, though an old man; and among some other exploits of his of this date, was the burning of some Spanish vessels in the very port of Barcelona.
After the peace of Nimeguen he kept very quiet, and seldom went to court, an unusual thing in those days, especially for those who had such claims as Duquesne.
In 1682 he was sent with a fleet to Algiers, which city he bombarded for several days, with great effect, but was compelled, by bad weather, to return and winter at Toulon.
In June, 1683, he reappeared before Algiers, completely reducing the place by his fire, so that the population rose up against the Dey. All the French slaves were given up, but Mezzo Morto, who had succeeded to the Dey, who had been put to death by the insurgents, renewed the defence, when the bombardment was continued by Duquesne, to such an extent that it rendered the Algerines harmless for a long time, by destroying all their vessels and naval stores.
Two years after this Duquesne commanded the French fleet which bombarded Genoa, and, at different times, inflicted so much damage that the Doge and four Senators were obliged to come to Versailles, to beg pardon, in person, from the King. It was on this occasion that the Doge was asked what he found most surprising in Versailles, and answered “that it was to find himself there.”
The Genoese expedition was Duquesne’s last service. He had been sixty years in actual service, a time only rivaled by Doria. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes distressed the veteran beyond measure. He alone, of all the Protestants of France, was excepted from proscription, and enabled to retain his rank and honors. But his children and friends, his relatives and co-religionists, were banished from their homes; and this had a most depressing effect upon the Admiral, and, no doubt, hastened his death.
He died at Paris, on February 2, 1688, aged seventy-eight years. With his last words he implored his eldest son not to serve against his country, as many of the exiled Huguenots were then doing. So great was the feeling at the time of his death, that his remains were privately buried, his son’s request to have them sent to him in Switzerland being refused; but he erected a tablet to his memory.
This was in great contrast with the splendid obsequies and the tomb given by Holland to his adversary, Ruyter.
Louis XVI afterwards tried to make reparation for this treatment of such a great French naval hero, by placing Duquesne’s portrait in the royal apartments at Versailles. In 1844 the City of Dieppe erected a bronze statue in his honor, and one of the large vessels of the French navy is generally called “Duquesne.”
