Martelly-Chautard was born to the family of Victoire de Villeneuve des Arcs and of Louis-Antoine de Martelly de Chautard,[2] an official of Toulon.[1] He joined the Navy as a Garde-Marine on 6 July 1750.[3] In 1755, he was promoted to Ensign. [1]
In 1756, he was made an artillery sub-lieutenant, and rose to lieutenant in 1760.[1]
He was promoted to Lieutenant de Vaisseau on 1 October 1764.[3] In 1767, he commanded a company training gunners.[1]
In 1770, he was given command of the bomb shipEtna. He took part in a raid against Tunis, where he earned the Order of Saint Louis, awarded to him in 1771.[4] In 1773, he captained Éclair.
In 1774, Chautard married Albertine Thierry de Ville d'Avray.[4]
In 1777, he was given command of the light frigate Pléïade for a mission to Algiers.
On 4 April 1777, Martelly-Chautard was promoted to Capitaine de Vaisseau.[3] He was given command of the 50-gun Experiment and on 1 May 1780, he departed Marseille, escorting 33 merchantmen to Saint-Pierre de la Martinique. He arrived on 16 June and joined a squadron under Bouillé. He then took part in the Invasion of Tobago in June 1781.[1] He then sailed North to join with a division stationed off James River and York River to secure communications channels between Grasse's squadron and Saint-Simon's expeditionary corps, along with Glorieux, Triton and Vaillant, and the frigates Andromaque and Diligente.[5]
Oh her return to France, Palmier was lost in a storm on 24 October 1782.[1] Martelly Chautard was acquitted by the subsequent court-martial.[3] On 16 August 1784, Martelly-Chautard was admitted in the Society of the Cincinnati.[1][4]
In October 1784, he was promoted to Brigadier and retired.[1]
At the French Revolution, Martelly-Chautard was made President of the Toulon district, keepin the position until 31 July 1792. He then went to Paris as an envoy to the National Legislative Assembly. He was also in the Garde nationale from 1 December 1792 to 10 May 1793.[1]
