TWT #168 –

On June 17th, 1778, a French ship, the Belle Poule, fought off a larger British frigate in the English channel, sparking French ladies to wear absurd hairdo’s.

I’ll give it to you straight. I could spend this article talking all about the action in the channel on this day.

How British Admiral Keppel’s fleet spotted four French ships off the coast and gave the order to pursue and capture those ships. How the Arethusa caught up to the Belle Poule. How the captain of the Belle refused to surrender to the larger ship, And how, after the British fired a warning shot, the Belle responded with a full broadside barrage of cannon.

I could then get deeper into the frenzied two hour battle that took place.

How the Belle, though a smaller ship and desperate to escape back to a French port, was actually inflicting severe damage to the Arethusa. How the Belle eventually took out the Arethusa top masts and her main mast, leaving the British unable to fight (or even move).

We could also discuss the higher-level naval strategy that the French put into place after they took a beating during the Seven Years’ War, 15 years prior. How this battle was the first conflict between the British and the new French fleet, and how it set the stage for the French naval involvement in the American Revolutionary War.

BUT, you can read all of that in Nathaniel Philbrick’s newest book, “In the Hurricane’s Eye.”

“So what the heck are we going to talk about today?” You may ask.

Well folks, even though the British viewed the overall engagement as a victory (seeing as how they did capture two other French ships that were travelling with the Belle), the French viewed it as an even bigger victory. Proof that their new fleet & commanders could fight back against the impossibly strong British navy.

So to honor their ship, la Belle Poule, French nobility created a new hairdo called… la Belle Poule.

Unfortunately THIS was the look they went with.

AH!

I mean, c’mon. They HAD to have known this looked absolutely horrendously insane.

Not sure if the kid is reaching for his horse toy, her boat, or her…boats…

“Thank God I just happened to have this massive wooden model of a ship lying around”

There are a lot of terrible pictures of these French women with this Belle Poule do, but I believe this is the worst:

No wonder all the French nobility was killed like, ten years later. They spent all of their money putting boats in their hair instead of feeding their people.

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