ESTAING (es-tan') , CHARLES HEC TOR, COMTE D', a French army and navy officer; born in 1729. He entered the French army as colonel of infantry; was promoted Brigadier-General in 1757; ac companied the expedition of Comte de Lally to the East Indies, and was cap tured at the siege of Madras, 1759. He was released on parole, and without awaiting exchange took command of sev eral men-of-war, and greatly harassed the English in various parts of the East. On his return to France in 1760, he accidentally fell into the hands of the English, and was imprisoned in Ports mouth. In 1763 he was appointed Lieu tenant-General, and in 1777 vice-admiral in the French navy. In 1778, in accord ance with the treaty between France and the United States, France fitted out a fleet of 12 ships of the line and 4 frig ates to aid the latter in the struggle against Great Britain, and Estaing was placed in command. He sailed April 13,
reached Delaware Bay in July, and then proceeded to New York, expecting to en counter the British fleet on the way. He captured some prizes off the coast of New Jersey, agreed to assist in a land and sea attack on Newport to expel the British from Rhode Island, but was un able to carry out his plans. Subsequent ly he captured St. Vincent and Grenada, West Indies, and in 1779 co-operated with General Lincoln in an ineffectual attempt to capture Savannah, Ga. He returned to France in 1780; commanded the allied fleets of France and Spain in 1783; was elected to the assembly of nobles in 1787; appointed to the command of the national guard in 1789; chosen admiral of the navy in 1792; testified in favor of Marie Antoinette at her trial in 1793; and was condemned as a royal ist and guillotined in 1794.