Djidjelli expedition

The Djidjelli expedition was a French military expedition in Algeria conducted between July and October 1664 by the Kingdom of France, with the assistance of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem in Malta, the United Provinces, and England, in the port city of Djidjelli (or Jijel) east of the Regency of Algiers. This "Africa campaign" was part of Louis XIV's vision for the Mediterranean. He wanted to protect the French merchant fleet from North African corsairs and also implement French global policy as a member of the League of the Rhine in the framework of the First Austro-Turkish War.

This military expedition aimed to seize the city of Djidjelli and fortify it, to establish a permanent naval base against the Berber corsairs of the regencies of Algiers and Tunis. The expedition was under the command of the Admiral of France, Francis of Vendome, Duke of Beaufort. The land forces were led by Lieutenant-General Charles-Félix de Galéan, Count of Gadagne.

Three months after the capture of the city, deprived of reinforcements due to an outbreak of the plague, and besieged by Berber, Kabyle and Ottoman troops, the forces of Louis XIV abandoned the city and reembarked for France. During the return crossing, an aging and poorly-repaired first-rate French ship La Lune, sank in the harbor of Toulon, resulting in more than 700 fatalities.

Reasons for the expedition
The young king Louis XIV -- whose reign began in 1661 after the death of Cardinal Jules Mazarin -- and his minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert wanted to safeguard trade conducted by the French merchant navy which, like those of other European nations, was continually attacked and pillaged by Barbary Coast pirates coming from the three regencies under Ottoman administration and protection in Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli.

The French expedition's goal was to "beat back the pirates mocking [France's] power", and ravaging the Mediterranean coasts.

They chose to attack a city on the Barbary Coast halfway between Algiers and Tunis. The plan was to seize, fortify, and build a port there, using it as an advance post for future quick attacks against the corsairs, similar to what the English were doing at the time in Tangier (1661-1684). At the same period, on the western coast, the city of Oran had been in the hands of the Catholic Spanish monarchy since 1509.

They considered Bougie, Bône and Stora (near the former comptoir the Bastion de France), but eventually chose Djidjelli. This choice led to conflict between the commander of the expedition, his second in command, and the engineer in charge of fortifications.

Duke of Beaufort takes Djidjelli (23 July)


The fleet mustered in Toulon on 2 July 1664 and made anchor at Bougie on 21 July after a halt in Menorca, in the port of Mahón. Here, the expedition was joined by Maltese galleys.

The expedition first opposed the Kabyles of the kingdom of Koukou and of Béni Abbès. Because they were dissenting against the Regency of Algiers, they refused its help at first. However, because they failed in retaking the city in the end they accepted the passage of troops of the bey of Constantine and of the Regency of Algiers.

On the morning of 23 July 1664, the galleys advanced to shore and intimidated the Kabyles with their artillery, thus allowing longboats (chaloupes) to ferry troops to shore near a landmark called le Marabout. The choice of this landing place, which contained a shrine and a cemetery, incited heightened resistance from the inhabitants, which resulted in combat the following day.

The disembarking army consisted of about 4000 men, and the Maltese battalion 1200 men. The order was as follows: first the Picardy regiment commanded by M. de Vivonne disembarked, and then the Count of Gadagne at the head of the Maltese battalion, then the Duke of Beaufort and La Guillotiere.

The royal troops took Djidjelli the same day without much difficulty. The Count of Vivonne met with stiffer resistance at Le Marabout, but the Kabyles soon abandoned their positions to regain the mountains and the expeditionary force set up camp for the night.

Heavy fighting took place the next day. The Moors were seen waving a white flag, so the order was given to cease fire. The French seized this opportunity to parlay and establish friendly relations with the Arabs, but the Kabyles ambushed the expedition and ravaged it. The intervention of the Maltese battalion with Charles-Félix de Galéan on a second front ended this lethal attack. The expedition lost 400 men and the Moors as many on their own side.

Strategic disagreement between Beaufort and Gadagne
A disagreement between the Duke of Beaufort and the Count of Gadagne is documented by the letter of September 12th 1664, addressed by Louis XIV to Monsieur de Gadagne. It seems that the Count of Gadagne already wanted, even before the expedition, to disembark at Bougie "then abandoned, better situated and more within reach of help than Djidjelli".

After this attack the war council was divided in two clans: those who favored rapid fortification of the peninsula to allow it to sustain a siege (Gadagne, Vivonne, and the principal naval officers) and those thought other measures more important and above all wanted to await the orders of the king on the citadel project (Louis Nicolas de Clerville and the Duke of Beaufort).

Siege of Djidjelli (6 October)
An attack of Turks and Kabyles was repulsed by the besieged on 6 October 1664.

Arrival of reinforcement and departure of Beaufort (22 October)
To reinforce the initial expedition, on 20 September a convoy of six vessels and six barques laden with foodstuffs left for Africa.

Military reinforcements followed shortly afterwards: in turn leaving on 18 October from Toulon, Damien de Martel, the marquis de Martel, arrived as reinforcement, at the head of a squad (four vessels, one flûte and one brûlot) carrying two cavalry companies from the regiment of Conti, on 22 October 1664. (See the correspondence between the king and the commanders of the expedition). The squad of M. de Martel was composed of the Dauphin (flagship), the Soleil (under M. de Kerjean), the ship La Lune (under François de Livenne de Verdille, the commander de Verdille), the Notre-Dame (under M. de la Giraudière), the Espérance (flûte, under M. Garnier) and of a prestigieux named the Triton (led by captain Champagne).

A message from the king, informed of the discord between the heads of the expedition, enjoined the Duke of Beaufort to retake ship and leave command of operations to de Gadagne. The cousin of Louis XIV and his fleet left Djidjelli for good on 22 October.

Retreat from Djidjelli (31 October)
With the outbreak of plague in Toulon, the embarcation of reinforcements and ammunition was cancelled. So, besieged and judged too difficult to hold, the place was demolished and abandoned by the French, who re-embarked in the night of 30 October to 31 October 1664.

Gadagne himself initially wanted combat. In the course of a war council on 30 October, after much hesitation from Gadagne to call it, the officers general and lower-ranking officers of the "army of Africa", that the re-embarkation was decided and drawn up as a letter to be sent to the king, signed by nineteen officers (principally not naval) of whom Louis Nicolas de Clerville, Raymond Louis de Crevant d'Humières, the marquis de Preuilly, Castellan and La Guillotière. Gadagne signed reluctantly, indicating he "did not believe he should or could hold a contrary opinion." Even if the letter is presented as the opinion of all, many signatures are absent, including those of the most senior chiefs of the expedition, which is instructive as to an absence of unanimity.

The retreat was carried out using the vessels of Damien de Martel, marquis of Martel, arrived on 22 October, and without the help of the fleet of the Duke of Beaufort. Priority was given to troops who were beginning to be seen as unreliable, "the soldiers saying out loud that that they were going to become Turks".

Wreck of La Lune
On its return to France, the entire fleet from the African campaign was sent into quarantine at île de Porquerolles by the Parlement de Provence (Parliament of Provence) because of the plague. La Lune, an old three-master that had arrived in Djidjelli as reinforcement on 22 October, was already in pitiful condition and poorly-repaired. It began taking on water as soon as it left harbor in Toulon. The vessel broke in two and sank near Toulon, before the Îles d'Hyères, with the ten first companies of the Picardy regiment aboard. More than 700 men drowned, among them General de la Guillotière, one of the two maréchaux de camp of the Count de Gadagne during the expedition.

A hundred or so survivors managed to reach Port-Cros, but, abandoned on this desert island 7 km2, they all starved. The captain of the ship, who was a knight of Malta, the commander de Verdille and Antoine Boësset de La Villedieu (aide de camp of General de la Guillotière) escaped by swimming. There were only 24 survivors.

In 1993, the wreck of La Lune was discovered in waters 90 m deep by IFREMER. The following year, Marie-Chantal Aiello produced a documentary for France 3, La Lune et le Roi Soleil (La Lune and the Sun King).

Consequences
On 25 August 1665, the Duke of Beaufort destroyed two Algerian corsair ships and captured three others. On one of the latter he found the artillery that had been abandoned at Djidjelli in October 1664 ..

A peace treaty was signed between the Duke of Beaufort and the Regency of Tunis on 25 November 1665. A second treaty was concluded with the Regency of Algiers on 17 May 1766. However, it was not until the bombardment of Algiers by Admiral Duquesne in 1682 for the comptoir français of the Bastion de France re-opened the following year.

Documentaries

 * Marie-Chantal Aiello, La Lune et le Roi Soleil: Retour sur une tragédie navale, (La Lune and the Sun King: Return to a Naval Tragedy), 13 Production, France 3 Méditerranée / C.M.C.A / IFREMER, 1994
 * L’épave de la Lune, (The Wreck of La Lune), La Marche des sciences, France Culture, broadcast 12/07/2012 1