Lafayette’s Ship, The Hermione Sailing Back To America!

Le Marquis de la Fayette sailed  into the Boston harbour, on October 19, 1781, announcing that France would be providing military and financial support to George Washington,s troops.  His magnificent blue and golden ship, Hermione, has been totally reconstructed is finally sailing back to America!

It has only taken over 17 years to bring this magnificent dream into reality, but I like to think that the spirit of General Lafayette might have had his hand in the project all along!   Gilbert du Motier, Le Marquis de Lafayette was absolutely enamoured with the spirit of the American revolution.

Born into a wealthy aristocratic family  in 1757, his childhood was marked by the death of his father who died in battle, fighting the British during the Seven Years War.  His mother, devastated by the death of her husband left Gilbert to be raised by his paternal grandmother until he moved to Paris to join her at age 11.

A year later, his mother died, therefore leaving him orphaned, but with a sizable inheritance.  Carrying on the family tradition, Lafayette received a military commission in the musketeers at 13, while he continued his studies at  Louis Le Grand Lycee .

He was engaged at the mere age of  14.   Two years later at 16,   he married  Adrienne de Noailles, who was only  14 years old.    The young couple welcomed their first child when he was 18.

By the age of only 21 years he had risen to the rank of major general. It was then that he  persuaded king Louis XVI to contribute funds and provide military troops to help the struggling American colonist fighting for freedom against the tyrannical British.

The original ship, was built at the military naval arsenal in  Rochefort, France.  Incredibly, it was constructed in only 11 months, which is certainly surprising, given that all was done by hand without the modern equipment ship builders have today!

Rochefort, lies just south of La Rochelle , next to the beautiful Ile d’Oléron on the Charente river about 12 miles inland.  This small city had the honor of having the first military dry dock faculties of France built in 1668.

It made several crossings in helping the American revolutionaries , and then took on other missions. Coming back from one of these, the Hermione sank off the coast of France.   The remains were finally discovered near Croisic, in 1984, but only an anchor and two cannons were salvaged from the wreck.

In the early 1920’s the Rochefort’s ship building progressively died out, including the making of ship rope at the Corderie Royale. Today  the whole maritime complex has been lovingly restored and is a popular maritime museum.

It was in Rochefort that this ingenious idea of reconstructing the Hermione saw the light of day.  The once proud ship building city wanted to recaptured more of its historical glory by building a replica  of a famed French ship.

The Hermione was selected not only for her beauty and historical significance but also for what she symbolizes; the  long standing bond between France and  America.     With this in mind, it was additionally thought to give Rochefort greater tourist attractiveness.

Of course the initial obstacle to overcome, was finding financial support for this colossal project. A foundation was formed and eventually financial support was solicited from both French and American sources.

The planners and naval architects wanted that the reconstruction be as immaculately true to as possible to the  original. Since many of these old ship building materials and techniques have been long lost and replaced by modern methods, it proved to be quite a challenge!

Research was begun to sift through hundreds of old shipbuilding documents back in that time period.  Hermione had been  built entirely of wood.

To be able to faithfully reconstruct this ship using wooden planks that had to be curved required finding craftsmen today who had knowledge of ancient woodworking techniques.

In France that was fairly easy as there are at any given time multiple restoration projects going on all over the country.  The French carpentry firm of Asselin was selected as they specialize in restoration of historical monuments.

They along with another French company, Yacht Concept, a nautical construction firm, they were given the green light to start this monumental project.

The whole city of Rochefort took the project under its wing, feeling the resurrection of the Hermione would breathe new life into this once bustling shipbuilding town, whose past glorious naval history had been reduced to preservation in the museum.

For timber, 1,200 tons of French  oak were needed which was harvested from 2,000 oaks from nearby French forests.

It was decided to use bolts rather than pegs to secure the wooden planks together.   Although this deviated from the original , this small exception was needed to comply with current sea going vessel safety regulations.

The rope was entirely recreated as it always been in days past: handmade!  The Hermione has been  equipped with 25 kilometers  of natural fiber handmade rope.

The original  ship was adorned with 32 cannons that fired 12 pound cannonball making one of the most fierce battleships of its time.   In order to lighten the weight of the replica, it sports only 27 cannons, each one especially cast for the ship.

There are 19 sails, that used over 2200 square meters of white linen sailcloth and has hand sewn eyelets.

The ship is outfitted with 1000 pulleys that of course are all manipulated manually.   Even the crew quarters were replicated exactly as they were in the past offering swinging hammock style bedding for their volunteer  crew.

There are  54 young courageous amateurs sailors, some of which had never before sailed.  Each one had to pass certain physical fitness tests to ensure that each would be able to climb the riggings in order  to manage the sails in all sorts of weather.

One of the crew is an American college student from appropriately enough, Boston, who chose to  wear hand sewed outfits replicating the French sailors uniforms and caps used during  that time.

The captain,  Yann Cariou, age 53, is from Brittany and there are additionally 18 professional sailors who have the challenge of catching the fastest winds of the blue Atlantic that will carry them across.

The ship does have several things that the original one didn’t.  There is  a diesel  and an electric engine, fire safety equipment, radar, GPS, a modern kitchen and bathrooms.

The lieutenant  of navigation will use a compass and other navigational tools to plot his daily course , buts admits he will have the wonderful advantage of daily weather reports and radar.

There is a longboat, a dinghy, and a sailing sloop attached to the ship.

In the many sea worthy trials, sailing between Bordeaux and Nantes, the ship averaged 5 nautical miles per hour and up to 15 in a good wind.

They are expected to arrive in Yorktown on June 5th if all goes well and they can catch the hoped for winds to carry them through.  They will make a stop on the Canary Islands on the way.

From Yorktown, they will visit other ports of call including Washington, Annapolis, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Newport, Boston, then Halifax, Nova Scotia.

During each of the stops there are planned activities awaiting the crew and public to celebrate this monumental reenactment.

For several days before her departure there were multiple festivities , including a visit of president Francois Holland and the final bon voyage parties with firworks,  that took place all day Saturday.

 

Of course. some of the final necessary supplies pulled onboard were none other than huge barrels of Hennessey cognac! No proper French ship ever sailed without a good supply of wines and cognac carefully put into storage.

Keeping the sailors happy and well fed is all part of a successful voyage, especially when you can expect to be at sea for about 6 weeks or so, depending of the ocean winds and weather.

Le Marquis de Lafayette was definitely a true Americophile, and the first from France to proclaim such admiration and attachment to this once budding country struggling for its freedom. He is buried at Picpus Cemetary in Paris, with some soil from Bunker Hill atop his grave.

It is only fitting that his trusted ship Hermione is carrying back some soil from his birthplace of Chavaniac, in the Auvergne region of France, where one can visited the family château.

In a moving tribute to his beloved adopted country, he penned these incredible patriotic feelings:

“From the first moment I heard the name of America, I loved it. From the instant I knew it struggled for freedom, I was consumed with the desire to shed my own blood for her.  I will count the days I got the chance to serve it, everywhere and anytime, amongst the happiest days of my life”.