Locked Down Shot, daylight. View from the castle of the Rhone_a_Sete Canal. The canal connects the Etang de Thau in Sete to the Rhone River in Beaucaire, Gard. Louis IX Saint Louis rebuilt the fortified town of Aigues_Mortes 搒till or lifeless waters?in the 13th century, it was France抯 only Mediterranean port at that time.