GREAT FRENCH SAILOR

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 30 July 1929, Page 2

GREAT FRENCH SAILOR

COUNT DE TOURVILLE TROUNCED ENGLISH AND DUTCH SHIPS THAT BORE HIS NAME OUR COMING VISITOR The visit, to Auckland of the Tourville, the very modern and fast cruiser of the. French Navy, will remind students of history that all our encounters with that gallant nation did not turn out quite so satisfactorily from .our standpoint as St. Vincent or Trafalgar. There was a time when the English flag was practically swept from the sea, and the man who did it was Annellilarion do Contentin, Comte do Totirville, born at Paris in 1642, who was undoubtedly the gieatest sailor of his era. He was not only personally brave as a lion, but he had the added gifts of organisation and strategy. Although such a great fighter he was singularly polished and polite —altogether the sort of sea-hero that the British admire. The story of his career and of that of thp. various ships which have been named after him is contained in a neat little booklet called "Croiseur Tourville," for a copy of which we are indebted to the trench Consul at Auckland, M. Paul Serre. The booklet is in French, and below we give some of the salient points which will enable one to grasp what the name means to a Frenchman. "The greatest sailor of the century, and the most modest," was the reputation given to de Tourville by the English and the Dutch—and they should have known, for they were handsomely beaten by him on more than one occasion. He went to sea at the age of 16, in a ship belonging to the Knights of .Malta, and had some, exciting experiences fighting the Barbary corsairs. When be was 19 he allowed a Tunisien craft to board him. After 150 of the pirates had swarmed over to his vessel, lie ordered the lines of the grappling irons to be cut, mastered the horde which had swept aboard, then he boarded their ship and captured her. HERO' OF BEVEZIERS At the age of 25 de Tourville entered the French Navy, and took part in most of the daring exploits of the latter half of the' 17th century. The year 1690 was memorable for France, and j disastrous for England and Holland. De Tourville was then Commander-in-Chief, and flew his pendant on the. "Soleil Royal." On 10th July of that vear he beat the combined fleet of the English and Dutclj at Beveziers. Fifteen enemy ships were destroyed or captured, and as the. French memoir puts it, "the English flag disappeared from the sea." In the following year the French fitted out only a moderate number of ships, and d e Tourville's instructions were to protect the coasts of France, but not to seek a big fight. During this "campaign of the open sea." as it was called, he added to his laurels. In 1692 he met the English fleet of 99 ships off Harfleur, and Ji e had but 45. Although he could have easily made off he told his officers that his orders this time were to attack the enemy, strong or weak, wherever h e found them. ' When night fell not one French ship had struck her colours or gone to the bottom. The enemy had lost two ships and were soundly beaten in spite ol the odds. De Tourville was made a Marshal of France, and retired to well-earned rest in 1697, when the Peace of Rvswick put an end to the war. He died "in 1701. HIS NAMESAKES Tho first warship called Tourville, after the great admiral, was a vessel of 74 yuns. She was so well-built that she was not condemned until 1834. She took part in many engagements, but as far as the English are concerned her most interesting memory was that she was one of.the vessels"taking part in the expedition of Hoche to Ireland. Between 1811 and 1814 an old vessel of Spanish origin bore the name of Tourville while she was attached to the Naval School at Brest. The next Touri ville was a fine vessel of 90 guns. Built at Brest, she was one of the first vessels to be fitted with the auxiliary screw. iShc took part in the FrancoBritish expedition to the Baltic during the Crimean war. Like the grand old wooden walls of England, the Tourville of that epoch was a most picturesque object, with her double tier of gun-ports, her carved stern and towering masts and wide yards. Th e Tourville of the Crimean era was succeeded by a cruiser built in 1876. Although she was constructed of wood, the builders had made such a good job of her that she was not broken up until 1903. The name Tourville did not appear on the poop of another ship until 1909, and then it was carried by a- j transport. In 1914 plans were laid' for' building a 29,000-ton ship to carry the name, but she was never built," and until the present Tourville was begun in 1925 the name was borne by the old transport mentioned.