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 tactics in the Age of Sail, naval tactic known as the line of battl ...

of the

French Navy The French Navy (, , ), informally (, ), is the Navy, maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of History of France, France. It is among the largest and most powerful List of navies, naval forces i ...

. She was designed and built by François Pomet in

Toulon Toulon (, , ; , , ) is a city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the French Riviera and the historical Provence, it is the prefecture of the Var (department), Var department. The Commune of Toulon h ...

Dockyard between 1662 and 1665, and was classed as a (ship of the third rank). She was part of a French relief effort to

Candia The name Candia can refer to: People * The House of Candia, a noble family from Savoy (14th-16th) * Alfredo Ovando Candía, 56th president of Bolivia * Antoinette Candia-Bailey, American academic administrator * Cecilia Maria de Candia, British-It ...

during a siege by the Ottomans and was sunk on 24 July 1669 after an explosion in her powder magazine. At the time she was a

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, 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 ...

of the expedition.

History

The ''Thérèse'' arrived at

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 to land troops directly on shore, typic ...

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

Siege of Candia The siege of Candia (now Heraklion, Crete) was a military conflict in which Ottoman forces besieged the Venetian-ruled capital city of the Kingdom of Candia. It lasted from 1648 to 1669 (a total of 21 years) and is one of the longest sieges in ...

. 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 sometim ...

, 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 powder magazine 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

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 Venetian noble Morosini family.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 ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

, 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 open-circuit self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA), called the ...

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

Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities The Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities () is a department within the Greek Ministry of Culture responsible for underwater archaeology. History The Ephorate was founded in 1976, and has jurisdiction over the entirety of Greece (unlike the regional ...

. 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. About of the hull survive, and between 1987 and 1994, about had been excavated.

Notes

Citations

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. .

History

The shipwreck

See also

Notes

Citations

References

Further reading