Bombardment of Mogador
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| Bombardment of Mogador | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Franco-Moroccan War | |||||||
 The attack of Mogador by the French fleet, painting by Serkis Diranian. | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 France |
 Morocco | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
François d'Orléans |
Laarbi Torres  Omar Laalaj † Ahmed ben al-Shiker | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
|
15 warships 1,200 soldiers |
400-500 troops ~120 cannons | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
|
14 killed 64 wounded |
200 killed 160 captured | ||||||
The Bombardment of Mogador took place August 15–17, 1844, when French Navy forces under the Prince de Joinville attacked the Moroccan city of Mogador, modern Essaouira, and the island facing the city, Mogador island. The campaign was part of the Franco-Moroccan War.
The bombardment was a consequence of Morocco's alliance with Algeria's Abd-El-Kader against France. Following several incidents on the border between Algeria and Morocco, and Morocco's refusal to abandon its support of Algeria.[1]
The bombardment of Mogador was preceded by the Bombardment of Tangier by the same fleet on 6 August 1844, and the Battle of Isly by Maréchal Bugeaud on 14 August 1844.
Mogador was an important harbour, Morocco's first seaport, with consistent relations with Europe. It had about 15,000 inhabitants, 4,000 of whom were Jews, and 50 Christian traders.[2][3]
Bombardment
The French fleet consisted of 15 ships, including 3 ships of the line (Suffren, Jemmapes and Triton), 3 frigates (Belle Poule, Groenland and Asmodée), 4 brigs (Argus, Volage, Rubis and Cassard), 3 corvettes (Pluton, Cassendi and Vedette), 2 avisos (Phare and Pandour). The fleet included a large proportion of steam paddleships, but most of the firepower came from traditional ships of the line.[1]
Mogador was defended by 40 guns at the northern "Scala da la Kasbah", 24 guns at the harbourside "Scala da la Marine". Mogador island, however, was defended by 5 batteries, armed with between 6 and 70 British bombards.
The French fleet arrived in the Bay of Mogador on August 11, 1844, but the weather was so bad that they had to wait, breaking their anchors and unable to communicate even between themselves.[3] Once the weather abated, the French Navy first took up firing positions on 15 August.[3] They were fired upon by the Moroccan batteries first upon taking their positions. After one hour, the French batteries responded, and exchanges lasted for about 3 hours.[3][4] The batteries of the city were silenced one by one, but the batteries on Mogador island remained active, requiring a landing to clear them out.[4]
Occupation of Mogador island
The French, numbering 500 men under the orders of Duquesne and Bouet, occupied Mogador island, which was barely populated and only built with a mosque, a prison and a few forts.[2][3]
All the batteries were taken and 400 Moroccans were captured in the Mosque of the island after heavy fighting, led by their commander Laarbi Torres. The French were able to release about 50 to 60 state prisoners.[2] The French landing force had 14 killed and 64 wounded in the action.[3]
The city of Mogador was further bombarded from Mogador island, which was only 1.5 kilometers away. Altogether, the city was bombarded for 26 hours. A large proportion of the main mosque and the houses were destroyed by the French bombardment.
