Cap Corsa Fight

The Battle of Cap Cors July 10, 1684 is a battle between the French battleship Le Bon and 35 Spanish-Genoese galleys off the coast of North Corsica during the Franco-Spanish War of 1683-1644 .

In the summer of 1684, after the bombing of Genoa , the French galley general, the Duke de Mortemar, was ordered to search for Spanish galleys in the Tyrrhenian Sea , to demand a greeting from them, and in case of refusal, to attack. On June 15, Mortemar told Maritime de Senielle , Secretary of State for Maritime Affairs, that the Spaniards had concentrated their forces in Naples, Sicily and Sardinia, and that the Genoese galleys had joined them.

On July 10, 35 galleys circling the Cap Corse Peninsula encountered the French 50-gun battleship Le Bon, escorting flutes of ammunition. The ship was commanded by a hereditary sailor from Rennes, Baron Ferdinan de Releng The crew consisted of 400 people.

12 galleys of the Marquis of Centurion attacked the Frenchman from the stern, from where they answered several caronades, while others rushed across. With the fire of the stern guns, Le Bon managed to inflict significant losses on the Centurion crews, and supported by a weak breeze, he was able to catch the wind gain and make a U-turn, standing side by side to the enemy galleys. When the Frenchman lay down in the wind, six Spanish galleys, led by the La Reale vessel, tried to board it, but their impulse was stopped by powerful salvos. Turning around again, Le Bon cut through the enemy’s line of fire, firing from both sides, and at three in the afternoon, after a five-hour battle, managed to break out and head for Livorno .

With severe damage, but undefeated, the battleship entered the Livornian harbor. Thirty Spanish galleys rushed after him. Having discovered the enemy’s ship, the Spaniards demanded that the Dutch vessel standing next to leave the line of fire, but the Dutchman nobly refused to do this, and told the Spaniards that after the first shot from them he would support the Frenchman with his guns.

The Spaniards had to leave Livorno. On board the Le Bon was 90 dead and wounded. At court, Releng's actions were initially regarded as extremely unsuccessful, because he could not protect the escorted flutes. Baron was thrown into the Tower of Toulon , and his ship was transferred under the command of another officer, but he was soon released and recognized as "one of the bravest and most enterprising captains."

Cesareo Fernandez Duro in the fifth volume of his “Spanish Armada” confirms the number of galleys given by French authors (5 Spanish, 8 Neapolitan, 3 Sicilian, 2 Sardinian, 6 galleys of the Duke of Tursi , and three more galleys and two large boats, which were joined by 8 galleys of the Genoese Signoria ), but indicates the fact that the galleys had weak artillery and were much less protected, and therefore should be considered as auxiliary units, while the three-deck 54-gun battleship had an actual fire advantage over them, negating and numerical superiority and maneuverability.