LA PROVENCE. Ship of the Line, 74 guns built at Toulon. Laid dawn in 1812, under the name of KREMLIN (probably after the fall of Moscow by Napoleon on 14 September) Two years after, she was still on the stocks, but was renamed LA PROVENCE (certainly after the return of Louis XVIII as the King of France in April 1814).
Launched one year after under a third name HERCULE (because meanwhile Napoleon is once more on the throne for the 'Hundred Days', 20 March ‑ 22 June 1815). A few months later her name was changed back to LA PROVENCE (after Waterloo, the French Government gave her this name, which is the one of the Comte de Provence, the present King; Louis XVIII)
She took part with the English and Russian fleets at the battle of Navarino (20 October 1827) which was a disaster for the Turks. On the 3 August 1829 she was a negotiator‑ship during the talks between the Dey of Algiers and the French messengers.
Nevertheless, with her neutral quality, the Algerians opened fire on her. This fact pushed the French government to undertake a punitive expedition, which took place on 14 June 1830. French Admiral Duperre on LA PROVENCE conducted the invasion fleet which had the conquest of Algeria as a result.
One year after, having some difficulties with Portugal, Louis‑Philippe, King of France, sent the Brest Fleet there (LA PROVENCE was one of the ships) On 14 July the French Admiral Roussin, put his ships line ahead, opened fire on the forts of Belem, at the mouth of the Tage river and reduced them to silence, he then anchored with all his ships in front of the Portuguese capital ‑‑ The diplomatic result was immediate and the crisis was over.
In 1854 LA PROVENCE was in the Baltic Sea with English ships against the Russians: fall of Bomarsund and destruction of some Russian ships in Sweaborg (1855). During the Crimea war (autumn 1855) she was with the French ‑fleet at Sebastopol. This saw the end of the old sail‑wood‑ships and LA PROVENCE became a hulk in Rochefort in 1858 and was renamed, probably this time ALGER in reserve. She was destroyed in 1882
She is shown on the stamp design, which is copied from a lithograph by G. P. Reinagle, lying off the town of New Navarin. Reinagle was an eye-witness of the battle aboard the Mosquito, and made a number of engravings of the battle and two fine oil paintings, now in the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich.
The Provence was the French warship which accompanied the first French settlers to Algeria in 1830 and for this reason is depicted on the centenary stamp issued in connection with the International Philatelic Exposition of "L'Afrique du Nord", held at Algiers. Incidentally this stamp appears to have been issued on white or cream paper, although I have seen only the latter cataloged: After the expedition to Algeria the Provence was renamed Alger, a tribute to the new settlement and to the ship which took part in it.
Log Book October 1994 Alain Roman and Sea breezes Jan 1966 Ernest Argyle.
Algeria SG106