La Lune (ship)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A drawing by Pierre Puget, on which the Lune should be shown.

The La Lune (French for " moon ") was a French three-masted ship of the line (originally) 1st class, which sank on the morning of November 6, 1664 within sight of the French coast near Toulon off the Îles d'Hyères . The relatively well-preserved wreck , which lies at a depth of around 100 m, was discovered in 1993 and archaeologically examined in October 2012 with a French diving expedition.

The ship

The La Lune had a displacement of 800 tons, was 43 m long and at the time of its sinking had 48 cannons on two cannon decks (in 1647 it had been armed with 36 cannons). She was built in Brest or Indre near Nantes from 1639 to 1641 and was therefore almost 25 years old at the time of the sinking, at a time when the average lifespan of comparable ships was only 15 years. During the expedition in 1664 she was therefore downgraded to 3rd class.

In 1647, Pierre Puget made a drawing of the ship on parchment, which is now in the Louvre .

The last voyage 1664

The La Lune had just returned from the Algerian coast before it went down . Previously, an expedition of the French was (in cooperation with the Knights of Malta fail), in Jijel a base for operations against the (Djidjelli) Berber - pirates to build. The expedition, which began in July 1664 from Toulon, was under the command of Admiral Francois Vendome (Duc de Beaufort) and Charles-Félix de Galéan, Comte de Gadagne (who commanded the land forces) - the dispute between the two commanders did not endure insignificantly to the later failure. At first they were able to conquer Jijel, but were then besieged by the Turks and Kabyls . In October a relief fleet ran out of Toulon, including the La Lune . As the situation seemed hopeless, it was decided to bring the troops back to France. The La Lune sailed on the night of October 30th to 31st with probably around 1,200 men on board, including a crew of 350, many wounded and sick and ten companies from the Picardie Regiment (an additional 800 soldiers). Despite urgent requests from the captain , who pointed out that the ship was overloaded and in poor condition (100 men had to operate the pumps constantly on the return voyage), they were not allowed to land in Toulon, as they feared the outbreak of the plague and the ship in quarantine began. According to other assumptions, they wanted to delay the news of the bad outcome of the expedition as long as possible. On the morning of November 6, the ship sank very quickly, according to eyewitness reports, like a stone (Beaufort: “comme un bloc de marbre”). There were fewer than 100 survivors, including the 80-year-old Captain de Verdille, a Knight of Malta who was washed ashore on a plank.

The salvage from 2012

The wreck contains numerous items of everyday and military life on board, including over 40 cannons. It is in a restricted military area . The wreck is around 42 m long and 10 m wide and lies upright.

During the 2012 expedition, the interaction of various diving devices was tested and three ships were deployed: the André Malraux of the state DRASSM (Département de recherches archéologiques subaquatiques et sous-marines, director and leader of the expedition: Michel L'Hour), the tug Jason of the French Navy and the research vessel Minibex from COMEX. The mini -submarine Remora 2000 (developed by COMEX), an ROV and a diver in a newtsuit of the French Navy, which enables several hours to work under water, were used. The dives could be precisely simulated on board with a three-dimensional simulation program developed by Dassault Systèmes . Michel L'Hour compared the meaning for French naval archeology with that of the Mary Rose for the English and the Vasa for the Swedes and called them "our Pompeii ". The excavations are to be continued from 2012 onwards.

The investigation of the wreck is the subject of an arte documentation.

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ It is also called frigate called
  2. ↑ On a test run of the submarine Nautile from Ifremer .
  3. ↑ La Provence, with a photo of the drawing
  4. ↑ The expedition lost more than 2,000 men, not including the losses when the La Lune sank .
  5. ↑ Arte, diving trip to the moon

Coordinates: 43 ° 3 ′ 44 ″  N , 6 ° 0 ′ 43 ″  E