 On 1 January 1901 he was made second in command of the ironclad battleship "Carnot" in the Northern Squadron commanded by Paul Campion.In 1903 he was commander of the 3rd class cruiser "Galilée" at Toulon, then in the Mediterranean squadron commanded by Edouard Pottier.He led the expedition on the "Galilée" that rescued the sailors abandoned by Jacques Lebaudy in Mauritania and captured by the Moors during Lebaudy's attempt to establish his "Empire of the Sahara".