Christophe-Paulin de La Poix de Fréminville

Christophe-Paulin de La Poix, chevalier de Fréminville (24 January 1787 – 12 January 1848) was a French Navy Commander, naturalist, archeologist and pioneer of transvestism. La Poix de Fréminville was born to a family of naval engineers, and joined the Navy in 1801. He served as an aide to Rear-Admiral Latouche-Tréville and distinguished himself on the gunboat during Nelson's Raids on Boulogne. At the age of 15, Fréminville was appointed to the 74-gun as a midshipman and took part in the Saint-Domingue expedition, in which he witnessed and condemned the massacres perpetrated by General de Rochambeau. Returned to France in January 1803 on with Pauline Bonaparte and the body of General Leclerc, he was promoted to Ensign, and distinguished himself again in a battle between his gunboat and a British frigate, where he was wounded. In 1806, he was appointed to the frigate on which he took part in a naval division under Captain Amand Leduc, also comprising the frigates Guerrière and , and sent near the North Pole to prey on British whalers. During the campaign, he served as signals major, adjudant to the division, and hydrographer. He notably rediscovered the island of Enckuysen, which Bellin had placed at 65°N 12°W in maps in 1751 and 1767 and whose existence had been doubted, but which were spotted at 65°54'N 12°48'W. The frigates sailed up to Spitsbergen, capturing a number of prizes, and returned to Iceland, where Fréminville measured several point of the coast. The squadron then cruised off Ireland and returned to France in September 1807, except Guerrière, captured by HMS Blanche on 19 July 1806. Seeing little action in the seven following years, Fréminville achieved the rank of Lieutenant only in 1811. A royalist at heart, he welcomed the Bourbon Restoration, but his career did not accelerate; he served on the fluyt in the Baltic Sea and the frigate off Western Africa. In mid-1822, Néréide was in the Caribbean, and Fréminville fell in love with a Creole girl named "Caroline C.