Fate
On 4 March 1807, Blanche was wrecked whilst cruising off Ushant. Forty-five of her crew were lost, of whom 20 were marines. All of the officers were saved, as were 180 seamen and 25 marines. The French marched the survivors 30 miles to Brest, where they were housed in the naval hospital. The crew would remain prisoners for seven years until Napoleon's abdication. The court martial on 2 June 1814 honourably acquitted Lavie and his officers of the loss of Blanche. The court found that iron stanchions, cranks and arms under the half-deck had affected her compasses. This in turn had caused her navigation to be faulty.
Read more about this topic: HMS Amfitrite (1804)
Famous quotes containing the word fate:
“However diligent she may be, however dedicated, no mother can escape the larger influences of culture, biology, fate . . . until we can actually live in a society where mothers and children genuinely matter, ours is an essentially powerless responsibility. Mothers carry out most of the work orders, but most of the rules governing our lives are shaped by outside influences.”
—Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)
“The fate of the country does not depend on how you vote at the polls,—the worst man is as strong as the best at that game; it does not depend on what kind of paper you drop into the ballot- box once a year, but on what kind of a man you drop from your chamber into the street every morning.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“What generous beliefs console
The brave whom Fate denies the goal!
If others reach it, is content:
To Heaven’s high will his will is bent.
Firm on his heart relied,
What lot soe’er betide,
Work of his hand
He nor repents nor grieves,
Pleads for itself the fact,
As unrepenting Nature leaves
Her every act.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)