Abel-Nicolas Bergasse du Petit-Thouars

Abel-Nicolas Georges Henri Bergasse du Petit-Thouars (March 23, 1832 – March 14, 1890) was a French sailor, vice-admiral, saver of Lima and a hero in Peru.

Abel-Nicolas Bergasse du Petit-Thouars
Born	23 March 1832 Bordeaux-Les-Rouches, France
Died	14 March 1890(1890-03-14) (aged 57) Toulon, France
Allegiance	France
Service/branch	French Navy
Years of service	1853–
Rank	Vice-Admiral
Battles/wars	Crimean War Japanese revolution Franco-Prussian War
Awards	Légion d'honneur

Bergasse du Petit-Thouars in civilian clothes

Dupetit-Thouars monument in Lima, Peru

He was born in Bordeaux-en-Gâtinais, Loiret. He was adopted by his maternal uncle Vice Admiral Abel Aubert du Petit-Thouars, adding the du Petit-Thouars to his name.

He took part in the Crimean War, where he was wounded and was made a Knight of the Légion d'honneur. In 1868, he commanded the corvette Dupleix during the Japanese revolution. On 8 March 1868, a skiff sent to Sakai was attacked by samurai retainers of the daimyō of Tosa; 11 sailors and a midshipman were killed. The attack and French demands for punishment of the samurai involved became known as the Sakai incident. In 1870, he commanded a floating battery on the Rhine river during the Franco-Prussian War.

As a rear admiral, he was in charge of the 1880 pacification of the Marquesas Islands, which had been conquered by his uncle Abel Aubert du Petit-Thouars forty years before. On the way back to France, he commanded the French Navy observation mission at the War of the Pacific. Promoted to vice admiral in 1883, he died in Toulon on 14 March 1890.

A key south-to-north broad one-way street in Lima, Avenida (du) Petit Thouars, is named after him. It runs through Miraflores, San Isidro, Lince, and downtown Lima wards.