Egyptian Campaign
Does anyone have more information on the hospitalship "Le Causse" and its crew. It was one of the last ships to sail out of Alexandria after the siege. One of my ancestors, Samuel Bernard, was apparently on board. See picture below of a letter affecting him to the ship. The letter is just one among a number of documents I found regarding his time in Egypt as one of the young "savants" Bonaparte recruited for the expedition. If interested, I can post more of the documents.
134 Views
Le Causse started life as a Venetian ship of the line named Vulcano taken by the French at Corfu in 1797, and refitted as a hospital ship while retaining her armament of 66 guns. She served in this role during the Egyptian expedition, and was eventually captured by the British at Alexandria in 1801, who then gave her to their allies, the Turkish navy. Rif Winfield's book 'French Warships in the Age of Sail" gives further details. It does not seem that the Causse left Alexandria after the Battle of the Nile.