When Napoleon's ship had borne him to Elba, French wines had started to cross the Channel, the first shipments in a dozen war-ridden years, but the supplies had not yet reached rural hostelries where the sweet wines of the Spanish peninsula still ruled.

In 1752, the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille subdivided it into Carina ( the keel, or the hull, of the ship ), Puppis ( the poop deck, or stern ), and Vela ( the sails ).

Bark " small ship " is attested from 1420, from Old French barque, from Vulgar Latin barca ( 400 ).

The more precise meaning " three-masted ship " arose in the 17th century, and often takes the French spelling for disambiguation.

The ship was La Concorde of Saint-Malo, a large French guineaman carrying a cargo of slaves.

The incident was chronicled in the Boston News Letter, which called Teach the commander of a " French ship of 32 Guns, a Briganteen of 10 guns and a Sloop of 12 guns.

However, he had made a serious misjudgement: there was enough room between Guerrier and the shoal for an enemy ship to cut across the head of the French line, allowing the unsupported vanguard to be caught in a crossfire by two divisions of enemy ships.

Brueys ' dispositions had a second significant flaw: the 160 yard gaps between ships were large enough for a British ship to push through and break the French line.

It also created areas within the French line that were not covered by the broadside of any ship.

At the same time, French lookouts on Heureux, the ninth ship in the French line, sighted the British fleet approximately off the mouth of Aboukir Bay.

Nelson's plan, shaped through discussion with his senior captains during the return voyage to Alexandria, was to advance on the French and pass down the seaward side of the van and centre of the French line, so that each French ship would face two British ships and the massive Orient would be fighting against three.

To ensure that in the smoke and confusion of a night battle his ships would not accidentally open fire on one another, Nelson ordered that each ship prepare four horizontal lights at the head of their mizenmast and also to hoist an illuminated White Ensign, which was different enough from the French tricolour that it would not be mistaken in poor visibility, reducing the risk that British ships might fire on one another in the darkness.

Ten minutes after the French opened fire Goliath, ignoring fire from the fort to starboard and from Guerrier to port, most of which was too high to trouble the ship, crossed the head of the French line.

Foley had intended to anchor alongside the French ship and engage it closely, but his anchor took too long to descend and his ship passed Guerrier entirely.

The third British ship into action was HMS Orion under Captain Sir James Saumarez, which rounded the engagement at the head of the battle line and passed between the French main line and the frigates that lay closer inshore.

Miller steered his ship through the middle of the melee between the anchored British and French ships until he encountered the third French ship Spartiate.

Orion then rejoined the action further south than intended, firing on the fifth French ship Peuple Souverain and Admiral Blanquet's flagship Franklin.

* 1940 – World War II: the French fleet of the Atlantic based at Mers el Kébir, is bombarded by the British fleet, coming from Gibraltar, causing the loss of three battleships: Dunkerque, Provence and Bretagne.

Some spinels are among the most famous gemstones: Among them is the Black Prince's Ruby and the ' Timur ruby ' in the British Crown Jewels, and the ' cote de Bretagne ' formerly from the French Crown jewels.

Besides a multidisciplinary university, the University of Western Brittany, Brest and its surrounding area possess several prestigious French elite schools such as École Navale ( the French Naval Academy ), Télécom Bretagne and the Superior National School of Advanced Techniques of Brittany ( ENSTA Bretagne, formerly ENSIETA ).

Telecom Bretagne ( formerly known as ENST Bretagne ) is one of the top French grande école and a high standard research centre providing high level training in Information Technologies and telecommunications.

The modern French name for the area, " Bretagne ", or Brittany in English, is a variant of " Britannia ".

The names of the historical French provinces — such as Brittany ( Bretagne ), Berry, Orléanais, Normandy ( Normandie ), Languedoc, Lyonnais, Dauphiné, Champagne, Poitou, Guyenne and Gascony ( Gascogne ), Burgundy ( Bourgogne ), Picardy ( Picardie ), Provence, Touraine, Limousin, Auvergne, Béarn, Alsace, Flanders, Lorraine, Corsica ( Corse ), Savoy ( Savoie )... ( please see individual articles for specifics about each regional culture ) — are still used to designate natural, historical and cultural regions, and many of them appear in modern région or département names.

The Duchy of Brittany ( Breton: Dugelezh Breizh, French: Duché de Bretagne ) was a medieval tribal and feudal state that existed between 936 and 1547, covering the northwestern peninsula of Europe, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean on the west and the English Channel to the north, and less definitively by the Loire River to the south and Normandy and other French provinces to the east.

The characterization of a noble inheritance " a la mode de la Bretagne " was used in modern times by King Juan Carlos I of Spain to explain his preferences with regards to the embarrassing claim to the title Duke of Anjou by both a Spanish member of the House of Bourbon and a member of the French House of Orléans.

After emigration from southwestern Britain to northern Armorica, a sister kingdom also called Domnonia ( Breton: Dumnonea, French: Domnonée ) was established on the continental north Atlantic coast in what became known as Brittany ( Breton: Breizh, French Bretagne, " Britain "), the name of which derives from the French Grande-Bretagne coined to distinguish the island from Bretagne.

* the École nationale supérieure de techniques avancées de Bretagne ( ENSTA Bretagne, formerly ENSIETA ), training French military engineers ( 25 %) and civilian engineers ( 75 %);

Claude Berrou ( born September 23, 1951, Penmarch ) is a French professor in electrical engineering at École Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications de Bretagne, now Telecom-Bretagne.

Alain Glavieux ( 4 July 1949, Paris-25 September 2004 ), was a French professor in electrical engineering at École Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications de Bretagne.

In 1855 ferro-cement boat construction was patented by the French.

Similar treaties were subsequently negotiated by the United Kingdom ( Anglo-Japanese Friendship Treaty, October 1854 ), the Russians ( Treaty of Shimoda, 7 February 1855 ), and the French ( Treaty of Amity and Commerce between France and Japan, 9 October 1858 ).

* 1855 – Jacques Charles François Sturm, French mathematician ( b. 1803 )

* 1855 – Paul Deschanel, French President ( d. 1922 )

Other somewhat less often performed include Les vêpres siciliennes ( 1855 ) and Don Carlos ( 1867 ), both commissioned by the Paris Opera and initially given in French.

* 1780 – Henri Braconnot, French chemist and pharmacist ( d. 1855 )

Her first exposure to French artists Ingres, Delacroix, Corot, and Courbet was likely at the Paris World ’ s Fair of 1855.

These reforms included guarantees to ensure the Ottoman subjects perfect security for their lives, honour, and property ; the introduction of the first Ottoman paper banknotes ( 1840 ) and opening of the first post offices ( 1840 ); the reorganization of the finance system according to the French model ( 1840 ); the reorganization of the Civil and Criminal Code according to the French model ( 1840 ); the establishment of the Meclis-i Maarif-i Umumiye ( 1841 ) which was the prototype of the First Ottoman Parliament ( 1876 ); the reorganization of the army and a regular method of recruiting, levying the army, and fixing the duration of military service ( 1843 – 44 ); the adoption of an Ottoman national anthem and Ottoman national flag ( 1844 ); the first nationwide Ottoman census in 1844 ( only male citizens were counted ); the first national identity cards ( officially named the Mecidiye identity papers, or informally kafa kağıdı ( head paper ) documents, 1844 ); the institution of a Council of Public Instruction ( 1845 ) and the Ministry of Education ( Mekatib-i Umumiye Nezareti, 1847, which later became the Maarif Nezareti, 1857 ); the abolition of slavery and slave trade ( 1847 ); the establishment of the first modern universities ( darülfünun, 1848 ), academies ( 1848 ) and teacher schools ( darülmuallimin, 1848 ); establishment of the Ministry of Healthcare ( Tıbbiye Nezareti, 1850 ); the Commerce and Trade Code ( 1850 ); establishment of the Academy of Sciences ( Encümen-i Daniş, 1851 ); establishment of the Şirket-i Hayriye which operated the first steam-powered commuter ferries ( 1851 ); the first European style courts ( Meclis-i Ahkam-ı Adliye, 1853 ) and supreme judiciary council ( Meclis-i Ali-yi Tanzimat, 1853 ); establishment of the modern Municipality of Istanbul ( Şehremaneti, 1854 ) and the City Planning Council ( İntizam-ı Şehir Komisyonu, 1855 ); the abolition of the capitation ( Jizya ) tax on non-Muslims, with a regular method of establishing and collecting taxes ( 1856 ); non-Muslims were allowed to become soldiers ( 1856 ); various provisions for the better administration of the public service and advancement of commerce ; the establishment of the first telegraph networks ( 1847 – 1855 ) and railroads ( 1856 ); the replacement of guilds with factories ; the establishment of the Ottoman Central Bank ( originally established as the Bank-ı Osmanî in 1856, and later reorganized as the Bank-ı Osmanî-i Şahane in 1863 ) and the Ottoman Stock Exchange ( Dersaadet Tahvilat Borsası, established in 1866 ); the Land Code ( Arazi Kanunnamesi, 1857 ); permission for private sector publishers and printing firms with the Serbesti-i Kürşad Nizamnamesi ( 1857 ); establishment of the School of Economical and Political Sciences ( Mekteb-i Mülkiye, 1859 ); the Press and Journalism Regulation Code ( Matbuat Nizamnamesi, 1864 ); among others.

The Renaissance was first defined by French historian Jules Michelet ( 1798 – 1874 ), in his 1855 work, Histoire de France.

Since at least as far back as 1855, one of its French names has been panda éclatant ( shining panda ).

* January 2 – Léon Teisserenc de Bort, French meteorologist ( b. 1855 )

* April 24 – Caroline Rémy, French feminist ( b. 1855 )

* May 22 – Gérard de Nerval, French writer ( d. 1855 )

* May 29 – Henri Braconnot, French chemist and pharmacist ( d. 1855 )

Kamil and his army marched towards Hebron in July 1855, with representatives from the English, French and other Western consulates as witnesses.

His fear lest Russia should demand a stretch of coast along the Varanger Fjord induced him to remain neutral during the Crimean War, and, subsequently, to conclude an alliance with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Second French Empire ( 25 November 1855 ) for preserving the territorial integrity of Sweden-Norway.

World class writers in French include the great romantic and symbolist poet Maurice Maeterlinck ( 1862 – 1949, Nobel Prize 1911 ), dramatists Michel de Ghelderode ( 1898 – 1962 ) and Henri Michaux ( 1899 – 1984 ), and the poet and playwright Émile Verhaeren ( 1855 – 1916 ), one of the founders of symbolism.

Another report from French naturalist Frances de Castelnau in 1855 relates an allegation by local Araguay fisherman, saying that it is dangerous to urinate in the river as the fish " springs out of the water and penetrates into the urethra by ascending the length of the liquid column.

But he had misgivings about the new provisional government, headed by Dupont de l ' Eure ( 1767 – 1855 ), who, since the French Revolution in 1789, had been a longstanding politician, although often in the opposition.

The city is cut in two by a canal, the lagoon of Cotonou, dug by the French in 1855.

The Battle of Malakoff | final French assault brought about the Siege of Sevastopol ( 1854 – 1855 ) | capture of Sevastopol in September 1855, leading to the end of the Crimean War.