Le Retour du Quizz Histoire (#1) !

[Bitoun Larouffik]

Envoyé par stratcom

Hervé de Portzmoguer, dit Primauguet

Portzmoguer et la " Marie la Cordelière" !

exact !ry


All was going rather well onboard the beautiful wooden sailing ships Marie La Cordelière and Grande Louise. It was the 10 August 1512 and a party was in full swing. If the noise of the laughter ringing out across Plougonvelin bay, near Brest, was anything to go by everyone was having a good time. Three hundred local dignitaries and their spouses were being entertained by the rather popular Marie La Cordelière captain, privateer Hervé de Portzmoguer and the Grande Louise captain Vice Admiral René de Clermont. The laughter wasn’t to last for long however as suddenly a fleet of enemy English boats were spotted rounding the headland less than 2 miles westward. Speed was of all importance and there was no time to disembark the visiting gentry as the rest of the fleet were alerted, anchors weighed and the guns made ready.

The English and French were practised foes and both sides engaged in battle eagerly. Despite the relatively new technology enjoyed by many of the boats (the Marie La Cordelière for example was amongst the first boats to sport opening gun ports aimed to accommodate the recent addition of cannon to fighting ships), the emphasis of naval combat at that time was still very much on grappling and boarding to conquer the enemy with hand to hand fighting. The English fleet outnumbered the French by approximately 3 to 1 and included the newly built 700 ton flagship Mary Rose, and two ships of 1000 tons, the Sovereign. Mary Rose started the cannon fire and successfully hit Grande Louise resulting in 300 dead within the first hour. The 700 ton Marie La Cordelière picked on a smaller rival, the 400 ton Mary James whose captain, Anthony Ughtred, did well at holding his own until help from Sovereign arrived, followed by the Regent. With almost an hundred ships in the cramped channel, skilful captains were required on both sides to work their men playing the wind and the tide in order to gain windage and therefore advantage over their adversaries. As the battle progressed the English appeared to have the upper hand until the much esteemed Hervé de Portzmoguer concentrated his assault on the powerful enemy ship, the Regent, eventually grappling her and boarding her. The remaining vessels continued to fight in confusion, several being sunk by cannon fire, some striking nearby rocks, and others retiring in disarray. With the Regent and the Marie La Cordelière physically tied together bitter hand to hand combat ensued. Arrow and crossbow bolts were aimed but fighting conditions were made even harder as the two ships rolled in the swell, their sides often crunching together splintering wooden beams. Above their heads flagging sails cracked louder than the sound of nearby cannon fire as the wind caught them. Despite Regent’s main mast being broken by a cannon ball and her wooden hull beginning to burn as flaming projectiles were thrown by Marie La Cordelière’s crew, she appeared to be the stronger of the two vessels. The fighting continued for more than two hours and the decks became red as a mixture of blood and wine washed over the once party boat. Hervé de Portzmoguer decided he had one last chance to destroy the English vessel and he set his own powder magazine on fire thus turning Marie La Cordelière into a floating bomb. Within seconds there was a violent explosion that instantly sank both ships. Remaining vessels of both nationalities were shocked and stopped fighting immediately in order to rescue any survivors. Unfortunately not many survived this terrible spectacle - the English commander, Thomas Knivet was killed by the explosion and Hervé de Portzmoguer was thrown into the sea where he was drowned, dragged under by the weight of his own armour. It is estimated that between 1000 and 2000 people lost their lives with just 20 men rescued from the Marie La Cordelière and 180 from the Regent

[Otto Granpieds]

Monsieur Bitoun, c'eut été plus sympa dans la langue de Molière

[Bitoun Larouffik]

oui je sais


mais aussi étrange que cela puisse paraitre

c'est le seul texte un peu long

que j'ai pu trouver ;

et un puis l'anglais c'est pas vraiment

une langue exotique ;

cela vient du beau magazine

ci dessous

http://www.geocities.com/shipwrecks_magazine/

[Otto Granpieds]

strat'Ta question ?

[stratcom]

Où peut-on lire cet épitaphe ?

« Ci-gît la fille, femme, et mère d'Henri »

[curTis newTon]

Sur la tombe de Marguerite de Navarre ?

[Coelio]

Sur la tombe de l'Impératrice Mathilde

[Bitoun Larouffik]

Joli mais ...;facile !

[stratcom]

La main à Coelio...

[Coelio]

Issu d'une famille aisée, je consacre cependant ma vie à l'action politique en faveur des milieux plus populaires, mais aussi de ma communauté, dont je suis l'un des premiers à exprimer les attentes et les spécificités, dans une célèbre interpellation au souverain.