Figure 4 . Postcard memorializing the minelaying destroyerCasabianca , sunk by its own mines in the Aegean Sea on 3 June 1915 (postcard in author’s possession)
On that night, Casabianca was lost deploying mines off the Turkish coast near Smyrna (Izmir) in the Aegean Sea. A mine prematurely exploded causing other mines on the deck rails to detonate in a chain reaction that blew off the ship’s stern. Eighty-eight sailors and six officers were killed in the explosion or by drowning. A British destroyer rescued sixty-four crew members and two officers, including the captain.11“French Mine Layer Sunk in the Aegean”,Western Times , 8 June 1915. It was initially hoped that some unaccounted sailors reached the shores of Turkey. Loss of life on theCasabianca was just as tragic as the 681 sailors and officers lost on the torpedoed armoured cruiser Léon Gambetta just two months earlier.22Matt Perry, “Vive La France! Death at Sea, the French Navy and the Great War”, French History 26, no. 3 (2012): 345, doi: 10.1093/fh/crs033. Similarly, the sea took many of theCasabianca ’s crew not picked-up or reaching the safety of rafts. In August 1915, naval members of a court martial in Toulon acquittedCapitaine de frégate Lafournière of any responsibility in relation to the sinking, concluding that reasonable measures were taken.33“Loss of T.E. Casabianca”, Western Times , 14 August 1915. Brucelle’s mother, whose close relationship and affection toward her son are evident throughout the private letters, was likely devastated. His sister Louise and fiancée Marie Louise missed him dearly. Brucelle was formally acknowledged a war casualty and posthumously awarded a military medal in November 1921.44By minister of marine order dated 18 November 1921. Journal officiel de la République française 319 (26 November 1921), 13005. Officially, he became just another statistic from the First World War instead of a sailor who lived an interesting short life, loved and was loved, and held dreams for the future.