Archer
Cliquez ici pour la version française
L’Archer de la Marine | The Navy Archer
The archers of the Navy were specifically in the service of the intendants both in France and its colonies. They also served as escorts and guards at official ceremonies. The archer or archers placed at the disposal of the intendants carried their orders and, if necessary, made arrests. When the first intendant of New France, Jean Talon, arrived in 1665, he was accompanied by two archers. His successors were entitled to one or two. However, Intendant Bigot, on entering Quebec in 1748, increased his number to three for his personal service, and added another to assist the commissioner of the navy at Montreal.
The archers of the Navy wore casaques in the seventeenth century, then blue velvet shoulder straps decorated with royal insignia and anchors. Around the middle of the 18th century, they adopted a red and blue uniform.
Known persons who had this rank: Dominique Aussion (Petit), Louis Aussion dit Agathe, François Daubert, Charles David, Jean Delgueil, Elie Dussault dit Lafleur, Jacques Gagnon, Louis Geneteau, Pierre Jourdain, Jean Lecomte, Noël Levasseur, Pierre Lesaque, Etienne Maranda, Pierre Marcheteau dit Desnoyers, Louis Marouin dit Saint-Louis, Jacques Morillon, Jean Petit, Hugues Ponchon dit St-Paul, François Raiche, Charles Rancourt, Jean Roger dit Saint-Jean, Pierre Souvigny, Léonard Tresny dit Laverdure, Claude Vincent Rousset dit Châteaufort.
“Navy archer, in about the mid-eighteenth century” *drawing by Francis Back, Government of Canada, Canadian Military History Gateway, http://www.cmhg.gc.ca/home-accueil-eng.aspx).
Source: “The Police In New France: Navy Archers”, Government of Canada, Canadian Military History Gateway, http://www.cmhg.gc.ca/cmh-pmc/page-158-eng.aspx.