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History's Hinge - 'Ain Jalut

[Diving Doc]

Scaled drawings of French Iron and Bronze Cannon just after the French Establishment of 1674
Iron Cannon of 1680                                                                                             Bronze Cannon of 1689
4 pdr                                                                                                                             36 pdr
6 pdr                                                                                                                              24 pdr
8 pdr                                                                                                                              18 pdr
12 pdr                                                                                                                            12 pdr
18 pdr                                                                                                                             8 pdr
8 pdr cast at Nivernais                                                                                            6 pdr
8 pdr cast at Perigord                                                                                              4 pdr

These fine drawings were done by Jean Boudriot. Bronze guns were gradually replaced by Iron Guns in the 1690's and 1700's . A new Establishment for iron guns was introduced in 1690.
Doc

[Solomon]

HMS Bellerophon at Torbay

Doc: Off Rochefort, Napoleon Bonaparte was intercepted and surrendered to Captain F. L. Maitland aboard HMS Bellerophon, on July 17, 1815, ending the "Hundred Days".


Napoleon on board HMS 'Bellerophon', 1815.

When HMS Bellerophon was at Torbay, so many tourists came to see Napoleon - then cheered him - that the government panicked. Until then, it was the intention to bring Napoleon to London, as the king wanted t0 meet him. That was cancelled and he never set foot in England.



Solomon

[Diving Doc]

For your enjoyment, the art of Guillaume le Testu, French Pilot and cartographer.

[Diving Doc]

It might be of interest how the French made their cannon in the 18th C. Here they were using the Maritz principle. The cutter was stationary and the cannon revolved on its axis on gearing that derived its power from water wheels. The illustration is from a late 18th C. French encyclopedia.
Doc

[Sovereign]

Looks to me that the French were a little late in coming to the Industrial Revolution, using a water wheel for this at that time.

[Diving Doc]

Maybe so but let me get back to Guillaume le Testu, the artist was also a pirate. He studied navigation at Dieppe and was pilot of a French ship during the exploration mission to Brazil in 1551. Le Testu participated in the expedition that founded a colony near Rio de Janeiro in 1555 and in 1556 he was appointed royal pilot and presented to King Henry II a world atlas which consisted of 56 maps which he drew. Sounds a lot like Sharpe doesn't he? Le Testu's Atlas included a southern continent which didn't exist stating, "Not imaginary even though no one has found it yet."
Cheers,
Doc

[Solomon]

Here it is.

[Diving Doc]

Let me tell you a little more about this man; Le Testu became the captain of an 80 ton warship with a 70 man crew, he encountered Sir Francis Drake in April of 1573 off Panama. Le Testu joined Drake in an attack on a mule train carrying treasure to Nombre de Dios. The attack was a complete success and the pirates loaded themselves with as much booty as they could carry and buried the rest. Le Testu's loot amounted to some 20,000 pounds sterling. Le Testu was wounded in the attack however and chose to remain so he could recover. Later Spanish soldiers fell upon Le Testu and two comrades who had remained with him. Le Testu was killed and beheaded, his head prominently displayed in the market square of Nombre de Dios.
Doc

[Diving Doc]

The Siege of La Rochelle
 Cardinal Richelieu at the Siege of La Rochelle.During the Renaissance, La Rochelle adopted reformist ideas, and from 1568 became a centre for the Huguenots, initiating a period of freedom and prosperity until the 1620s. The city finally entered in conflict with the central authority of the King Louis XIII, when cannon shots were exchanged on September 10th 1627 with Royal troops. This resulted into the Siege of La Rochelle in which Cardinal Richelieu blockaded the city for 14 months, until the city surrendered and lost its mayor and its privileges. The growing persecution of the Huguenots culminated with the revocation of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV. Many Huguenots emigrated, founding such cities as New Rochelle in the vicinity of today's New York in 1689.

http://www.arikah.net/encyclopedia/La_Rochelle

[Solomon]

Cardinal Richelieu at the Siege of La Rochelle, Henri Motte, 1881.

Siege of La Rochelle
The Siege of La Rochelle was a result of a war between the French royal forces of Louis XIII of France and the Huguenots of La Rochelle in 1627-1628.

In the Edict of Nantes, Henry IV of France had given the Huguenots extensive rights. La Rochelle had become the stronghold of the French Huguenots, under its own governance.

Following a Huguenot revolt by Duke Henri de Rohan and his brother Soubise from 1625, Henri's successor Louis XIII, however, declared war against the Huguenots. Louis' Chief Minister Cardinal Richelieu declared the suppression of the Huguenot revolt the first priority of the kingdom.


The Siege of La Rochelle (map), by Jacques Callot, 17th century.

Dutch support
The Roman Catholic government of France rented ships from the Protestant city of Amsterdam to conquer the Protestant city of La Rochelle. This resulted in a debate in the city council of Amsterdam as to whether the French soldiers should be allowed to have a Roman Catholic sermon on board of the Protestant Dutch ships. The result of the debate was that it was not allowed. The Dutch ships transported the French soldiers to La Rochelle. France was a Dutch ally in the war against the Habsburgs.
[edit]

English support
The rebels had received the backing of the English king Charles I, who sent his favorite George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham with a fleet of 80 ships. In June 1627 Buckingham organized a landing on the nearby island of R? with 6,000 men in order to help the Huguenots. Although a Protestant stronghold, ?le de R? had not directly joined the rebellion against the king.
[edit]

The siege
In September 1627 Royal forces besieged La Rochelle. La Rochelle was the greatest stronghold among the Huguenot cities of France, and the centre of Huguenot resistance. Cardinal Richelieu acted as the commander of the besieging troops (during those times when the King was absent).

On Ile de Re, the English tried to take the small fort of St Martin, but were repulsed. Small French boats managed to supply St Martin in spite of an English blockade. Buckingham ultimately ran out of money and support, and his army was weakened by diseases. After a last attack on St Martin they were repulsed with heavy casualties, and left with their ships.

French engineers further isolated the city with entrenchments 12 kilometers long, fortified by 11 forts and 18 redoubts. They also built with 4,000 workmen a 1,400 meters long seawall, to block the seaward access to the city. The wall was built on top of a foundation made of sunken hulks, filled with rubble. French artillery was used against English ships that tried to supply the city.

English relief efforts
In September 1628, another English fleet tried to relieve the city. After bombarding French positions, the English fleet had to withdraw. Following this last disappointment, the city surrendered on October 28, 1628.

Residents of La Rochelle had resisted for 14 months, under the leadership of the mayor Jean Guitton and with the gradually diminishing help from England. During the siege, the population of La Rochelle decreased from 27.000 to 5,000 due to casualties, famine and disease.

Surrender was unconditional. By the terms of the Peace of Alais, the Huguenots lost their territorial, political and military rights, but retained the religious freedom granted by the Edict of Nantes.

The French philosopher Descartes is known to have visited the scene of the siege in 1627.

[moneypenny]

Well, this thread has taken a turn towards La Rochelle, but anyone who is interested in traveling back to Rochefort can visit the website of the Maritime museum, in which is found the re-construction project of the Hermione, and the 'rope-walk'.  This rope walk was an amazing bit of building, which began in 1666. It produced rope until the 1800's. And during that time 350 ships were built. (see the photo of the dry dock that was posted earlier in this thread, a truly magnificent structure)
   When you use the link below to go to the website, run your mouse over the 'rope walk' building silouette, and click. On the pop-up window, you can view flash productions of 360 degree views of all the museum grounds. There are at least 5 Flash programs there to see.

http://www.corderie-royale.com/13_visitez_anglais/visitez.php

Enjoy, moneypenny

[Diving Doc]

That was an excellent find.
I do hope Admin can figure a way to post the entire map with the hyper links for the enjoyment of our members.
Cheers,
Doc

[Sovereign]

The Rope Factory as seen from the Charente River

The longest factory in Europe in the 17th Century

Here, you are in the heart of the former arsenal of Rochefort, whose construction was started in 1666 at Colbert's initiative. Over a period of 250 years, more than 350 boats were built here.

The Royal Rope Factory of Rochefort today is one of the finest jewels of our maritime heritage -and the symbol of an extraordinary ambition : to rejoin the sea.
In 1666, Colbert wanted to create a major arsenal between Nantes and Bordeaux.
He chose Rochefort (located at 23 kilometers from the sea).

Due to the instability of the land, the Rope Factory - 374 meters long and 8 meters wide- was set upon an " oak raft ". Its construction lasted from 1666 until 1679. Ropes and riggings for the Navy were manufactured here until 1867.
Damaged by fire in 1944, the building underwent complete restoration from 1976 to 1988.

[Diving Doc]

Great! It was a very cloudy rainy day and I didn't even try to take a picture.
Watching them actually make rope the old way was a real treat. Thanks.
Cheers,
Doc

[Diving Doc]

I would like to go into some detail about the frigate Hermione that we viewed under construction in Rochefort. When the people set about the restoration of the shipyard one thing was missing, a ship. They settled on an exact rebuilding of the Hermione for history's sake and feasibility, she stood out above all others.  She was a 32-gun frigate of 1779. There were some very good reasons for selecting this vessel. She was built at the naval yard in Rochefort, and she was elegant, and she had had an interesting history in service. The Hermione  was one of six near identical ships in her class and her log books still survived in the French national archives. It also happened that one of her sister ships, the Concorde, had been captured by the Royal Navy in February 1783. Prior to commissioning the Concorde into RN service as a 5th rate frigate they proceeded to measure the vessel in fine detail. With this wealth of technical data available she was the natural choice.

Doc