The fifth Grand Master of Malta elected on 11 September 1553, a French noble man, Grand Hospitaller of the Order and Ambassador at the Court of Pope Julius III. The Grand Master strengthened the fortifications around The Great Harbour and conceived the idea of building a new city on a grid plan. Land was offered at a nominal price to encourage people to live in the locality.
The King of Spain wanted to grant Mehdia to the Order and a commission was set up and recommended to turn down the offer due to lack of funds. The King of Spain ordered the Viceroy of Sicily to destroy Mehdia to avoid Arab occupation. Giovannio de Vega retaliated and prohibited the exportation of wheat to Malta to starve the inhabitants. The Palermitan engineer Vincenzo Vogo was brought over by La Sengle to assist in a program to upgrade the mills.
The GrandMaster was to face more trouble because the Prior of Capua Fra Leone Strozzi betrayed the Order and Malta. Having escaped from a prison in Sicily, Strozzi requested the command of three galleys to fight Dragut. The squadron left Malta on 19 April 1554 and instead joined forces with France, a situation that embarrassed the Order as France and Spain were at loggerheads. Consequently FraLeone Strozzi was dismissed.
In 1555 four galleys namely, Santa Fè, San Michele, San Filippo and San Claudio were capsized by a hurricane causing the death of six hundred men. The Treasury was not in a position to replace the lost warships. Immediate assistance came from Spain, the Vatican, France and the Prior of St. Giles to substitute the lost ships. La Sengle commissioned the building of a galley in Messina at his own expense.
The Prior François De Lorena son of the Duchess of Guise and nephew of the King of France made pressure on La Sengle to designate him Captain Genral of the Fleet. In 1557 five galleys commanded by De Lorena left harbour and sailed towards Rhodes to engage the Moslem Fleet. The Order was defeated and the shattered squadron returned on 17 June 1557. Witnessing this misfortune were the Grand Master and others crying in despair the loss of their beloved ones.
The Grand Master could not bear more grief and went to rest at the Boschetto. His health deteriorated and his soul reposed on 18 August 1557 at exactly two o'clock in the afternoon. Greatly missed by his subordinates and despite all these mishaps never mistreated the Maltese. La Sengle was buried in the vault of St. Angelo and his heart deposited at the Carmelite Church at Rabat. He left the enormous sum of 80,000 scudi for the Order's Treasury
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