On This Day
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French frigate Medusa wrecked; basis of Géricault's painting "Raft of the Medusa"

Méduse was a 40-gun Pallas-class frigate of the French Navy, launched in 1810. She took part in the Napoleonic Wars during the late stages of the Mauritius campaign of 1809–1811 and in raids in the...

Méduse was a 40-gun Pallas-class frigate of the French Navy, launched in 1810. She took part in the Napoleonic Wars during the late stages of the Mauritius campaign of 1809–1811 and in raids in the Caribbean.

In 1816, following the Bourbon Restoration, Méduse was armed en flûte to ferry French officials to the port of Saint-Louis, in Senegal, to formally re-establish French occupation of the colony under the terms of the First Peace of Paris.

Historical Significance

Méduse was a 40-gun Pallas-class frigate of the French Navy, launched in 1810.

Events Before

  1. Leading Romantic poet Lord Byron (27) marries Anne Isabella Milbanke (22) by special licence, at Seaham Hall in County D

    Leading Romantic poet Lord Byron (27) marries Anne Isabella Milbanke (22) by special licence, at Seaham Hall in County Durham

  2. Burned US Library of Congress re-established with Thomas Jefferson's 6,500 volumes

    Burned US Library of Congress re-established with Thomas Jefferson's 6,500 volumes

  3. Napoléon Bonaparte and his supporters leave Elba to start a 100-day reconquest of France

    Napoléon Bonaparte and his supporters leave Elba to start a 100-day reconquest of France

  4. Napoleon Bonaparte enters Paris after his escape from Elba and begins his 100-day rule

    Napoleon Bonaparte enters Paris after his escape from Elba and begins his 100-day rule

  5. Mount Tambora in the Dutch East Indies experiences a cataclysmic eruption, one of the most powerful in history, killing

    Mount Tambora in the Dutch East Indies experiences a cataclysmic eruption, one of the most powerful in history, killing around 71,000 people and causing a global volcanic winter

Events After

  1. Argentine General José de San Martín leads a revolutionary army over the Andes to attack Spanish royalists in Chile

    Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, extending along a narrow strip of land...

  2. Gioachino Rossini's opera "La Cenerentola" (Cinderella) premieres at Rome's Teatro Valle

    La Cenerentola, ossia La bontà in trionfo ("Cinderella, or Goodness Triumphant") is an operatic dramma giocoso in two acts by Gioachino Rossini.

  3. The New York Stock Exchange is founded

    The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "the Big Board") is an American stock exchange headquartered at the New York Stock Exchange Building in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New…

  4. Tsar of Russia, Nicholas I (21) weds Alexandra Feodorovna [Princess Charlotte] (19) at the Grand Church of the Winter Pa

    Tsar of Russia, Nicholas I (21) weds Alexandra Feodorovna [Princess Charlotte] (19) at the Grand Church of the Winter Palace in St Petersburg, Russia

  5. Alexander Twilight, likely the first African American to graduate from a US college, receives a BA degree from Middlebur

    Alexander Twilight, likely the first African American to graduate from a US college, receives a BA degree from Middlebury College

More from the 1810s

Leading Romantic poet Lord Byron (27) marries Anne Isabella Milbanke (22) by special licence, at Seaham Hall in County D

Leading Romantic poet Lord Byron (27) marries Anne Isabella Milbanke (22) by special licence, at Seaham Hall in County Durham

Field Marshal Blücher's troops cross the Rhine at Kaub

Field Marshal Blücher's troops cross the Rhine at Kaub

US Vice President John C. Calhoun (28) weds Floride Bonneau (19)

US Vice President John C. Calhoun (28) weds Floride Bonneau (19)

French church annuls marriage of Napoleon I and Empress Joséphine

Joséphine Bonaparte was the first wife of Emperor Napoleon I and as such Empress of the French from 18 May 1804 until their marriage was annulled on 10 January 1810.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happened on July 1, 1816?
Méduse was a 40-gun Pallas-class frigate of the French Navy, launched in 1810. She took part in the Napoleonic Wars during the late stages of the Mauritius campaign of 1809–1811 and in raids in the Caribbean. In 1816, following the Bourbon Restoration, Méduse was armed en flûte to ferry French officials to the port of Saint-Louis, in Senegal, to formally re-establish French occupation of the colony under the terms of the First Peace of Paris.
Why is French frigate Medusa wrecked; basis of Géricault's painting "Raft of the Med... significant?
Méduse was a 40-gun Pallas-class frigate of the French Navy, launched in 1810.

Explore More

July 1 in HistoryYear 1816