Bravery in the Extreme

It's doubtful that courage has ever been more impressively shown than that by Frenchman Aristide-Aubert Dupetit-Thouars, captain of the Tonnant, during the Battle of the Nile.

Dupetit-Thouars had his right arm shot away, then the left and finally one of his legs was taken off by a cannonball.

Refusing to give up command, he insisted on being put in a tub of bran that was on deck and led his men until he collapsed from blood loss.

One of his final orders was to nail the Tricolour to the mast so it could not be taken down in surrender.