Short answers, pulled from the story.
Rochefort was chosen by Jean-Baptiste Colbert in December 1665 as a place of "refuge, defence and supply" for the French Navy. The royal government could not rely on the nearby Protestant city of La Rochelle, which Cardinal Richelieu had been forced to besiege years earlier, making a new loyal port necessary.
Napoleon surrendered on the 17th of July 1815 to Captain F. L. Maitland aboard HMS Bellerophon, off the island of Ile-d'Aix near Rochefort. He had spent several days on the island hoping to escape to America before surrendering to British custody.
During the Jacobin period between 1790 and 1795, over 800 Roman Catholic priests and clergy who refused to take the anti-Papal oath of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy were held aboard prison ships in Rochefort harbour. Most died there due to inhumane conditions.
The Rochefort-Martrou Transporter Bridge, built in 1900, is the only remaining transporter bridge in France and one of only eight still operating worldwide. It works by suspending a ferry platform from a high-level span to carry passengers and vehicles across the Charente river.
L'Hermione is a full working replica of a 1779 French frigate, completed in Rochefort in 2014. The original Hermione was the ship that carried the Marquis de Lafayette to America in 1780 during the American Revolution.
Place Colbert, the town hall square of Rochefort, served as the central set for the 1967 French musical film Young Girls of Rochefort. The production used the actual streets and squares of the city.