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ROCHEFORT

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Originally appearing in Volume V23, Page 427 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ROCHEFORT , a See also:

town of western See also:France, See also:capital of an See also:arrondissement in the See also:department of See also:Charente-Inferieure, 20 M. S.S.E. of La Rochelle on the See also:State railway from See also:Nantes to See also:Bordeaux. Pop. (1906) town, 31,433; See also:commune, 36,694. It is situated on the right See also:bank of the Charente, 9 M. from the See also:Atlantic, and is built partly on the See also:side of a rocky See also:hill and partly on an old marshland. The town is laid out with greatregularity, the streets being wide and straight and centring See also:round the See also:Place See also:Colbert, in the See also:middle of which is a monumental See also:fountain of the 18th See also:century. The public institutions of Rochefort comprise the sub-prefecture, tribunals of first instance and of See also:commerce, a See also:board of See also:trade See also:arbitration, a chamber of commerce, a lycee for boys, a See also:college for girls and See also:schools of See also:drawing and See also:architecture. The fortifications are slight. Below Rochefort the Charente is crossed by a See also:Pont transbordeur, the See also:carrier of which is suspended at a height which admits of the tallest See also:ships passing underneath at any See also:time. There are both a See also:naval and a commercial See also:harbour. The former has the ad-vantage of deep anchorage well protected by batteries at the mouth of the See also:river, and the roadstead is perfectly safe. The windings of the channel, however, between Rochefort and the See also:sea, and the See also:bar at the entrance render See also:navigation dangerous.

Rochefort is capital of the See also:

fourth maritime arrondissement, which stretches from the See also:bay of Bourgneuf to the See also:coast of See also:Spain. The naval harbour and See also:arsenal, separated from the town by a See also:line of fortifications with three See also:gates, contain large covered See also:building yards, repairing docks and extensive See also:timber basins on both See also:banks of the river. The arsenal has also a ropewalk dating from 1668, a school of navigation and pilotage, the offices of the maritime prefecture, the See also:navy See also:commissariat, a See also:park of See also:artillery and various boards of direction connected with the navy. Other See also:government establishments at Rochefort are See also:barracks for See also:infantry, artillery and See also:marines, and the naval See also:hospital and school of See also:medicine. In the grounds of this last institution is an artesian well, sunk in 1862–1866 to a See also:depth of 2800 ft., and yielding See also:water with a temperature of See also:roe F. The commercial harbour, higher up the river than the naval harbour, has two small basins, a third See also:basin with an See also:area of 15 acres and a depth at See also:neap-See also:tide of 25 ft., at See also:spring-tide of 292 ft., and a dry See also:dock rro yds. See also:long. Besides See also:shipbuilding, which forms the See also:staple See also:industry, See also:flour- and saw-milling, See also:sail-See also:cloth, &c., are among the See also:local manufactures. At the ports of Rochefort and Tonnay-Charente (4 M. higher up) there entered, in 1905, 265 vessels (166 See also:British), with a See also:tonnage of 192,537. The lordship of Rochefort, held by powerful nobles as See also:early as the 11th century, was See also:united to the See also:French See also:Crown by See also:Philip the See also:Fair early in the 14th century; but it was alternately seized in the course of the See also:Hundred Years' See also:War by the See also:English and the French, and in the See also:Wars of See also:Religion by the Catholics and Protestants. Colbert having in 1665 chosen Rochefort as the seat of a repairing See also:port between See also:Brest and the See also:Gironde, the town rapidly increased in importance; by 1674 it had 20,000 inhabitants; and when the Dutch See also:admiral See also:Cornelius See also:Tromp appeared at the mouth of the river with seventy-two vessels for the purpose of destroying the new arsenal, he found the approaches so well defended that he gave up his enterprise. It was at Rochefort that the naval school, afterwards transferred to Brest, was originally founded. The town continued to flourish in the later See also:part of the 17th century.

In 1690 and in 1703 the English made unsuccessful attempts to destroy it. Its See also:

fleet, under the command of Admiral la Gallissonniere, a native of the place, defeated Admiral Byng in 1755 and did See also:good service in the wars of the See also:republic. But the destruction of the French fleet by the English in 1809 in the roadstead of Ile d'See also:Aix, the preference accorded to the harbours of Brest and See also:Toulon and the unhealthiness of its See also:climate seriously interfered with the prosperity of the place. The convict See also:establishment, founded at Rochefort in 1777, was suppressed in 1852.

End of Article: ROCHEFORT

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