Descendants of Nelson, Napoleon Finally Shake Hands
June 29, 1999 - 0:0
ALEXANDRIA, Egypt Descendants of Nelson and Napoleon shook hands for the first time here Sunday near the site of the battle of Abu Qir, one of the fiercest battles of Anglo-French rivalry 201 years ago. "I met him today for the first time. It was great fun to meet. We talked about our families -- in English," said Anna Tride, 69, after finally meeting Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte-Wyse, 63. Asked if there was any ill feeling during the encounter, Tride, great-great-great-granddaughter of Admiral Horatio Nelson and Lady Emma Hamilton, laughed and said: "Goodness gracious, no.
It's been 201 years." Bonaparte-Wyse was likewise amused by their meeting in this Mediterranean port city, although a little more reserved. "The meeting was very friendly. She has an open mind and I am trying to do the same," said Bonaparte-Wyse, great-great-great-great-nephew of the French emperor. Both still head groups dedicated to the memory of their illustrious ancestors -- Tride heads the Nelson Society, while Bonaparte-Wyse is involved in several Napoleonic organizations.
Tride and Bonaparte-Wyse flew to Egypt at the invitation of French amateur archaeologist and underwater explorer Franck Goddio who has been trying to unravel the mysteries of the sinking of Napoleon's fleet by Nelson two centuries ago. On August 1, 1798, in Abu Qir Bay, 14 kilometres (nine miles) east of Alexandria, Nelson administered a blistering defeat to Napoleon crushing the French general's hope of building a French Empire in the east.
Napoleon's flagship the Orient was hit by Nelson's superior firepower and sank within just a few hours. Its loss crippled most of the fleet the French general had assembled for his invasion of Egypt. Goddio's team has been surveying the Orient, a treasure trove of gold, silver and copper coins, as well as knives, forks and glasses, and navigational and surgical instruments.
"We also found 35 mm cannons around 160 meters (yards) from the wreck of the Orient," Goddio told AFP. "One of the guns was totally wrecked and next to it we found a perfectly intact crystal glass." But the most important discovery for Goddio was that Napoleon's flagship was destroyed by two explosions rather than just one as military historians previously believed.
"The remains of the wreck which we found lying on the seabed show that the Orient was destroyed by two simultaneous explosions which destroyed the ship both fore and aft," he said. One of the blasts ignited a gunpowder store, he said. But the middle section of the 65-meter (215 foot) ship was not destroyed in the twin blasts. The wreckage of the Orient, which is strewn across more than half a square kilometer of seabed, was found in 1983 by French archaeologist Jacques Dumas who died shortly after making the discovery.
The site was left untouched for 13 years until Goddio got permission to start work there three years ago. "We have almost finished our work which consisted of producing a representative sample of what was on board and I think we have succeeded," he said. "They fought a tough battle and we can almost smell the gunpowder when we search the boat." Tride and Napoleon-Wyse both wished Goddio well and said they hoped his work would throw light on their ancestors' first great battle.
(Reuter)
It's been 201 years." Bonaparte-Wyse was likewise amused by their meeting in this Mediterranean port city, although a little more reserved. "The meeting was very friendly. She has an open mind and I am trying to do the same," said Bonaparte-Wyse, great-great-great-great-nephew of the French emperor. Both still head groups dedicated to the memory of their illustrious ancestors -- Tride heads the Nelson Society, while Bonaparte-Wyse is involved in several Napoleonic organizations.
Tride and Bonaparte-Wyse flew to Egypt at the invitation of French amateur archaeologist and underwater explorer Franck Goddio who has been trying to unravel the mysteries of the sinking of Napoleon's fleet by Nelson two centuries ago. On August 1, 1798, in Abu Qir Bay, 14 kilometres (nine miles) east of Alexandria, Nelson administered a blistering defeat to Napoleon crushing the French general's hope of building a French Empire in the east.
Napoleon's flagship the Orient was hit by Nelson's superior firepower and sank within just a few hours. Its loss crippled most of the fleet the French general had assembled for his invasion of Egypt. Goddio's team has been surveying the Orient, a treasure trove of gold, silver and copper coins, as well as knives, forks and glasses, and navigational and surgical instruments.
"We also found 35 mm cannons around 160 meters (yards) from the wreck of the Orient," Goddio told AFP. "One of the guns was totally wrecked and next to it we found a perfectly intact crystal glass." But the most important discovery for Goddio was that Napoleon's flagship was destroyed by two explosions rather than just one as military historians previously believed.
"The remains of the wreck which we found lying on the seabed show that the Orient was destroyed by two simultaneous explosions which destroyed the ship both fore and aft," he said. One of the blasts ignited a gunpowder store, he said. But the middle section of the 65-meter (215 foot) ship was not destroyed in the twin blasts. The wreckage of the Orient, which is strewn across more than half a square kilometer of seabed, was found in 1983 by French archaeologist Jacques Dumas who died shortly after making the discovery.
The site was left untouched for 13 years until Goddio got permission to start work there three years ago. "We have almost finished our work which consisted of producing a representative sample of what was on board and I think we have succeeded," he said. "They fought a tough battle and we can almost smell the gunpowder when we search the boat." Tride and Napoleon-Wyse both wished Goddio well and said they hoped his work would throw light on their ancestors' first great battle.
(Reuter)