The ''Thérèse'' was a 58-gun

ship of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two colu ...

of the

French Navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...

. She was designed and built by François Pomet in

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...

Dockyard between 1662 and 1665, and was classed as a ''vaisseau de troisième rang'' (ship of the third rank). She was part of a French relief effort to Candia during a siege by the Ottomans and was sunk on 24 July 1669 after an explosion in her

powder magazine Powder Magazine, Powder House, or Powderworks may refer to: *Powder tower or powder house, a building used to store gunpowder or explosives; common until the 20th century *Gunpowder magazine, a building designed to store gunpowder in wooden barrels ...

. At the time she was a

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

of the expedition.

History

The ''Thérèse'' arrived at Candia on 19 June 1669 in company with 17

transport ship A troopship (also troop ship or troop transport or trooper) is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime. Troopships were often drafted from commercial shipping fleets, and were unable land troops directly on shore, typicall ...

s and 6,000 French soldiers. The French force was there to support the

Venetian Venetian often means from or related to: * Venice, a city in Italy * Veneto, a region of Italy * Republic of Venice (697–1797), a historical nation in that area Venetian and the like may also refer to: * Venetian language, a Romance language s ...

forces during the

Siege of Candia The siege of Candia (modern Heraklion, Crete) was a military conflict in which Ottoman forces besieged the Venetian-ruled city. Lasting from 1648 to 1669, or a total of 21 years, it is the second-longest siege in history after the siege of Ce ...

. Another 24 French warships arrived on 3 July. Six days after their arrival the leader of the French corps,

François de Vendôme, Duc de Beaufort François de Vendôme, duc de Beaufort (16 January 1616 – 25 June 1669) was the son of César, Duke of Vendôme, and Françoise de Lorraine. He was a prominent figure in the Fronde, and later went on to fight in the Mediterranean. He is sometime ...

, was killed in battle and took over. On 10 July a council of all the leaders of the allied armies took place and the decision was made to use the fleet to attack the Turks northwest of the city, as this part of the city was totally impoverished. After the bombardment the allied forces aimed to strike and repel the Turks. 24 July was selected as the day of the operation. As planned that day, the whole Navy sailed west of the city to the mouth of the river Giofyros. The fleet comprised 58 warships mounting 1100 cannon. For three hours the fleet continuously bombarded the Turks, when suddenly ''La Thérèse''s

caught fire, resulting in the destruction of the ship. Only seven of her crew survived out of 350. Immediately after this incident there was great confusion in the French naval force and the fleet's commander, Vincenzo Rospigliosi, ordered the bombardment to be abandoned, and sailed the fleet to the island of Dia. The accident seriously damaged the citizens' and sailors' morale and caused divisions in the military leadership. The leader of the French force, Philippe de Montaut, decided to withdraw from the city, having sustained casualties of over 2,000 dead and injured, and suffering a shortage of food and supplies.

Captain General Captain general (and its literal equivalent in several languages) is a high military rank of general officer grade, and a gubernatorial title. History The term "Captain General" started to appear in the 14th century, with the meaning of Command ...

Francesco Morosini Francesco Morosini (26 February 1619 – 16 January 1694) was the Doge of Venice from 1688 to 1694, at the height of the Great Turkish War. He was one of the many Doges and generals produced by the noble Venetian family of Morosini.Encyclopæd ...

, tried in vain to change de Montaut's mind. Eventually, between 16 and 21 August, the whole French fleet sailed away leaving the allied forces, a total of 3,600 men, consisting of Venetians, Italians, English, Scottish, Germans and Greeks, to fight alone against over 60,000 Turks. A few days later Morosini was informed that Turkish reinforcements had arrived in

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...

, and decided to surrender the city. He signed the capitulation on 6 September and the city was handed over to the Turks.

The shipwreck

Manolis Voutsalas, a Greek diver, discovered the wreck of ''La Thérèse'' west of the port of Heraklion. However, he was initially unsure of her identity. In 1976,

Jacques Cousteau Jacques-Yves Cousteau, (, also , ; 11 June 191025 June 1997) was a French naval officer, oceanographer, filmmaker and author. He co-invented the first successful Aqua-Lung, open-circuit SCUBA (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus). T ...

visited

and Voutsalas showed him the site of the shipwreck. After several dives, Cousteau identified it as the shipwreck of ''La Thérèse''.Καθημερινή 7 μέρες. Μεγάλα ναυάγια http://wwk.kathimerini.gr/kath/7days/2000/01/09012000.pdf page 28-32 in Greek with photographs. The scientific underwater excavation of the shipwreck started in 1987 by the Greek Ministry of Culture. The archaeologists M. Anagnostopoulou and Nicolas Lianos excavated the shipwreck, succeeded in mapping it and raised several objects. Among them, a bronze cannon with the inscription "Le Duc de Vendôme 1666" (admiral), and "HONARATUS SUCHET F(ecit) TOLONI" (cnf. M. Anagnostopoulou- N. Lianos, ΑΑΑ v.ΧΙΧ(1986). This is considered to be the first systematic underwater excavation in Greece.

References

* *''Nomenclature des Vaisseaux du Roi-Soleil de 1661 a 1715''. Alain Demerliac (Editions Omega, Nice – various dates). *''The Sun King's Vessels'' (2015) - Jean-Claude Lemineur; English translation by François Fougerat. Editions ANCRE. *Winfield, Rif and Roberts, Stephen (2017) ''French Warships in the Age of Sail 1626-1786: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates.'' Seaforth Publishing. .

Bibliography

*Ο Κρητικος πόλεμος 1645-1669 . Χρυσούλας Τζομπανάκη *Istoria dela guerra di Candia . Andrea Valiero *Η Υποβρύχια Έρευνα στον κόλπο Δερματά του Ηρακλείου Κρήτης (1988), Μαρία Αναγνοστοπούλου-Νίκος Λιανός, Αρχαιολογικά Ανάλεκτα εξ Αθηνών (ΑΑΑ), τόμος ΧΙΧ (1986), Αρχαιολογικά Χρονικά, 63-70. {{DEFAULTSORT:Therese 1660s ships Ships of the line of the French Navy Ships built in France Shipwrecks of Greece Maritime incidents in 1669

History

The shipwreck

See also

References

Bibliography