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Tatihou
Tatihou is an islet of Normandy in France with an area of . It is located to the east of the Cotentin peninsula just off the coast near Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue. It is almost uninhabited, and is usually reached by amphibious craft although, being a tidal island, it is also possible to walk there over the local oyster beds at low tide. Access to the island is limited to 500 visitors per day. History Tatihou, like many of the islets of the Channel Islands contains the ''-hou'' suffix. In 1692 the naval Battle of La Hougue took place between the English and the French close to the island of Tatihou. In 1756 the surroundings of La Hougue were defended by many batteries and forts, but the lack of regular maintenance ensured that these quickly fell into disrepair. In 1720 Tatihou was used for quarantining plague victims from Marseilles. On 10 December 1803, the 36-gun frigate HMS ''Shannon'' grounded on Tatihou. All her crew survived to be captured by troops from a battery. The next d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue
Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France. Toponymy Saint-Vaast is the Norman name of Saint Vedast and Hougue is a Norman language word meaning a "mound" or "loaf" and comes from the Old Norse word ''haugr''. Geography Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue is part of the canton of Val-de-Saire and the arrondissement of Cherbourg. The town had a population of 1,712 in 2019. The island of Tatihou forms part of the Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue commune. History Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue is located in Normandy and was a part of the Duchy of Normandy. In 1001, near Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue, Néel I de Saint-Saveur (related with Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte in the Cotentin Peninsula) (occasionally named Nigel or Niel), a Norman baron of the House of Saint-Sauveur ( fr), repulsed an Anglo-Saxon incursion led by King Æthelred II; a pillaging raid in reprisal for the Viking expeditions into the Anglo-Saxon kingdom. The raid failed thanks to the effort of Neel, who e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manche
Manche (, ) is a coastal French département in Normandy, on the English Channel, which is known as ''La Manche'', literally "the sleeve", in French. It had a population of 495,045 in 2019.Populations légales 2019: 50 Hérault INSEE History Manche is one of the original 83 départements created during the on March 4, 1790. It was created from part of the province of Normandie. The first capital was until 1796, and it res ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brownsea Island
Brownsea Island is the largest of the islands in Poole Harbour in the county of Dorset, England. The island is owned by the National Trust with the northern half managed by the Dorset Wildlife Trust. Much of the island is open to the public and includes areas of woodland and heath with a wide variety of wildlife, together with cliff top views across Poole Harbour and the Isle of Purbeck. The island was the location of an experimental camp in 1907 that led to the formation of the Scout movement the following year. Access is by public ferry or private boat; in 2017 the island received 133,340 visitors. The island's name probably comes from Anglo-Saxon = "Brūnoc's island". Geography Brownsea Island lies in Poole Harbour opposite the town of Poole in Dorset, England. It is the largest of eight islands in the harbour. The island can be reached by one of the public ferries or by private boat. There is a wharf and a small dock near the main castle. The island is long and wide and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
HMS Merlin (1803)
HMS ''Merlin'' was launched in 1801 in South Shields as the collier ''Hercules''. In July 1803, with the resumption of war with France, the Admiralty purchased her. She was one of about 20 such vessels that the navy would then employ primarily for convoy escort duties. She served on active duty until 1810, capturing one small privateer. She then served as a receiving ship until 1836 when the navy sold her for breaking up. __TOC__ Career The Admiralty purchased ''Hercules'' in July 1803, renaming her ''Merlin''. From 20 July to 20 September she was at Deptford fitting out for naval service. Commander Edward Pelham Brenton commissioned her in September. On 28 October 1803, ''Merlin'' and were off Dunkirk when they pursued and drove on shore the French privateer lugger ''Sept Freres''. ''Sept Freres'' was armed with two guns and had a crew of 30 men under the command of Citizen Pollet. ''Milbrook'' anchored close to the lugger and came under fire from some field guns on shore. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, consisting of Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, Herm and some smaller islands. They are considered the remnants of the Duchy of Normandy and, although they are not part of the United Kingdom, the UK is responsible for the defence and international relations of the islands. The Crown dependencies are not members of the Commonwealth of Nations, nor have they ever been in the European Union. They have a total population of about , and the bailiwicks' capitals, Saint Helier and Saint Peter Port, have populations of 33,500 and 18,207, respectively. "Channel Islands" is a geographical term, not a political unit. The two bailiwicks have been administered separately since the late ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
HMS Shannon (1803)
The third HMS ''Shannon'' was a 36-gun ''Perseverance''-class frigate of the British Royal Navy built at Frindsbury on the River Medway on the Thames Estuary. She was completed on 3 September 1803 during the Napoleonic Wars. Her name was changed from ''Pallas'' to ''Shannon'' shortly before construction, traditionally an omen of bad luck for a ship. In her case, she was wrecked within three months of her being launched. Wreck She was attached to the Channel fleet and spent the next few months under her captain, Edward Leveson-Gower, on patrol off the Cape La Hogue searching for French coastal shipping and privateers attempting to slip out of the Normandy port of Cherbourg. The 18-gun brig HMS ''Merlin'', under Edward Pelham Brenton, accompanied her. At 8pm on 10 December, just three months after she was completed, the ship was lost on Tatihou Island, near Barfleur, directly under an enemy battery. There was a heavy gale blowing and in the darkness, Leveson-Gower lost his posi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Islet
An islet is a very small, often unnamed island. Most definitions are not precise, but some suggest that an islet has little or no vegetation and cannot support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and/or hard coral; may be permanent or tidal (i.e. surfaced reef or seamount); and may exist in the sea, lakes, rivers or any other sizeable bodies of water. Definition As suggested by its origin ''islette'', an Old French diminutive of "isle", use of the term implies small size, but little attention is given to drawing an upper limit on its applicability. The World Landforms website says, "An islet landform is generally considered to be a rock or small island that has little vegetation and cannot sustain human habitation", and further that size may vary from a few square feet to several square miles, with no specific rule pertaining to size. Other terms * Ait (/eɪt/, like eight) or eyot (/aɪ(ə)t, eɪt/), a small island. It is especially used to refer to river i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cotentin
The Cotentin Peninsula (, ; nrf, Cotentîn ), also known as the Cherbourg Peninsula, is a peninsula in Normandy that forms part of the northwest coast of France. It extends north-westward into the English Channel, towards Great Britain. To its west lie the Gulf of Saint-Malo and the Channel Islands, and to the southwest lies the peninsula of Brittany. The peninsula lies wholly within the department of Manche, in the region of Normandy. Geography The Cotentin peninsula is part of the Armorican Massif (with the exception of the Plain lying in the Paris Basin) and lies between the estuary of the Vire river and Mont Saint-Michel Bay. It is divided into three areas: the headland of Cap de la Hague, the Cotentin Pass (the Plain), and the valley of the Saire River (Val de Saire). It forms the bulk of the department of Manche. Its southern part, known as "le Marais" (the Marshlands), crosses from east to west from just north west of Saint Lo and east of Lessay and marks a natural bo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kanaal, "The Channel"; german: Ärmelkanal, "Sleeve Channel" ( French: ''la Manche;'' also called the British Channel or simply the Channel) is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busiest shipping area in the world. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to at its narrowest in the Strait of Dover."English Channel". ''The Columbia Encyclopedia'', 2004. It is the smallest of the shallow seas around the continental shelf of Europe, covering an area of some . The Channel was a key factor in Britain becoming a naval superpower and has been utilised by Britain as a natural def ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
-hou
''-hou'' or ''hou'' is a place-name element found commonly in the Norman toponymy of the Channel Islands and continental Normandy. Etymology and signification Its etymology and meaning are disputed, but most specialists think it comes from Saxon or Anglo-Saxon ''hōh'' "heel", sometimes ''hō'', then "heel-shaped promontory", "rocky steep slope", "steep shore". This toponymic appellative appears as a final ''-hou'' or associated with the Romance definite article ''le Hou''. It can be found everywhere in Normandy, but more in the western part of it. The English toponymy uses this Saxon or Anglo-Saxon element the same way, but its result is phonetically ''-hoo'' or ''-hoe'', sometimes ''-(h)ow'' or ''-ho'' e. g. : Northoo (Suffolk); Poddinghoo (Worcestershire); Millhoo (Essex); Fingringhoe (Essex); Rainow (Cheshire); Soho (London); etc. Eilert Ekwall, ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names'' (4th edition), Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1960, p. 244b. As an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Common Shelduck
The common shelduck (''Tadorna tadorna'') is a waterfowl species of the shelduck genus, ''Tadorna''. It is widespread and common in the Euro-Siberian region of the Palearctic, mainly breeding in temperate and wintering in subtropical regions; in winter, it can also be found in the Maghreb. Fossil bones from Dorkovo (Bulgaria) described as ''Balcanas pliocaenica'' may actually belong to this species. More likely, they are an extinct species of ''Tadorna'' (if not a distinct genus) due to their Early Pliocene age; the present species is not unequivocally attested from the fossil record until some 2–3 million years later (Late Pliocene/ Early Pleistocene). Taxonomy The common shelduck was formally named by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his '' Systema Naturae'' under the binomial name ''Anas tadorna''. Linnaeus largely based his description on "The Sheldrake or Burrough-Duck" that had been described and illustrated in 1731 by the English ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
