L'Hermione | Play d'eau

Before and After – Lin did a good job
*click, if you really want to, to enlarge*

What did we do in Rochefort?

Lin cut my hair!

I needed a haircut. Lin said, rather too eagerly, ‘I’ll do it.’ This would be a first in the 47 years since we started going out together. I said, ‘no.’ She said, ‘think of the savings.’ I said, ‘no.’ She said, ‘I did all our boy’s haircuts until they were 11.’ I said, ‘no’. Lin said, ‘trust me, I know what I’m doing.’ I said, ‘no,’ my voice showing annoyance at her persistence. Lin paused and said, ‘think of the wine you could buy with the savings.’ I said ‘Deal.’

Being old age pensioners, that was an acceptable compromise.

Lin said, ‘and now think how much you could have saved over the years.’ I didn’t respond.

Transbordeur

I walked the 6 mile round trip to the Rochefort Transbordeur, a 113 year old beam and suspended gondola arrangement for linking the road across the river Charentes. Amazing and wonderful and still working like a dream, although a bridge has now been constructed next to it for the bulk of the traffic.

Dinner out

Plagiarising a term from ‘Spy Games’, we had ‘dinner out’ at Café Cap Nell opposite the marina the day we arrived in Rochefort. The highlight for Lin was a salmon fillet, perfectly cooked, just off-rare in the middle. Succulent, juicy and non-fibrous. Mmmm.

For me, it was the goat’s cheese first course which had been made into a mousse with mascarpone and served on a thin bed of almost caramelised pears. Heavenly.

Café Cap Nell at Rochefort by the marina — Café Cap Nell at Rochefort marina (left of centre)
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Yacht Raksha

We’d met Peter and Stefanie from Yacht Raksha in La Rochelle, so when they pulled in Rochefort we found ourselves having a couple of great evenings with them, eating and drinking too much, again – is there a pattern developing?

Peter and Stefanie are retiring, moving from the UK and looking to buy a house in the Dordogne, or Dordogne-shire, Britville, as it’s apparently becoming known.

Hermione and La Corderie Royale

As well as seeing the Hermione, we toured La Corderie Royale (the Royal Ropery), a long and narrow building created for making 300m ropes of every conceivable type and weave for vessels created at the Rochefort dockyard.

We borrowed a set of those ‘listen to it in English’ machines and heard the story from its royal concept to its destruction by fire, to its being rebuilt as a museum. Ropework demonstrations completed the tour. Really interesting.

Since it’s built on a marsh, its late 1700s foundations were made of a cris-cross of oaks at a depth of 1.5m. When it was rebuilt as a museum, the foundations were checked and found to be unmoved and perfect.

Splice the eyes

Lin attacked our 100m drum of new 16 strand octoplait, created two new warps, and spliced an eye into each. Not only are they perfect, but they attracted much comment from our neighbours, such as, ‘Can you do mine, next?’

I thought Lin would have jumped at this having been on about savings and old-age pensioners, but alas, she didn’t. Should I have mentioned how much wine we could have bought with the proceeds?

Lin spliced eyes into 16 strand multiplait
*click to enlarge*

Piers and Lin
from the Saloon of
Play d’eau
Fleming 55

You can get in touch with us any time by using our Contact Form.

L'Hermione in wet dock at Rochefort — L’Hermione in wet dock at Rochefort
*click to enlarge*

Lin and I visited L’Hermione yesterday, where she’s under construction in the Arsenal at Rochefort. She’s wondrous and beautiful and a magnificent work of art.

At 66m LOA, a beam of 11.24m, draft of 4.94m, and a displacement of 1,082 tonnes with her 26 cannons and ammunition, the three masted L’Hermione is a replica of the eighteenth century jewel of the French navy.

Used to fight the British

Commanded by Comte de La Touche-Tréville, L’Hermione was originally launched in 1779 at Rochefort’s naval dockyard. Here, the Marquis de La Fayette boarded L’Hermione in 1780 bound for the Americas in support of George Washington’s war of Independence against the British, taking the news that France would support Washington with 5,500 men and 5 frigates.

For two years, Lafayette served as a Major General directly under Washington whilst Vice Admiral Touche-Tréville in L’Hermione fought many naval battles against the British.

A 1/8th scale model was created to help understand the final look of L'Hermione — A 1/8th scale model was created to help understand the final look of L’Hermione
*click to enlarge*

During her final action against the British, L’Hermione ran aground off Croisic, France, due to ‘a simple navigational error’, where she was wrecked by heavy seas.

Er, Britain, can you help?

Having fought the British a twist of irony was to unfold 200 years later – L’Hermione’s replica needed help in two keys areas.

The original plans for L’Hermione had been lost. Britain was approached where records were found providing a sketch of L’Hermione’s original hull as well as plans for her sister ship. From these the replica has been ‘faithfully’ created.

L’Hermione’s figurehead needed to be proud, strong and worthy of gracing L’Hermione’s prow. Against local competition, a British sculptor, Andrew Peters from Oxford, UK, was chosen and commissioned to create the 3m tall lion.

Andrew Peters from Oxford, England, carved the figurehead — Andrew Peters carved the 3m tall figurehead
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Interestingly, Lin and I had just had Play d’eau’s name plates re-made by Andrew when he told us of his new commission. Maybe we should have had a figurehead for Play d’eau? If so, of what?

Construction

20 years in construction in one of Rochefort’s wet docks, the cores of 4,000, 150 to 200 year old oak trees have been used in creating the main frame and structure.

Now in her final stages of fit-out, the 2,200 sq metres of sail are almost complete.

2015

L’Hermione’s scheduled for completion in 2015 when she’ll leave Rochefort for her transatlantic journey to the USA, following La Fayette’s original journey.

En route she will visit Las Palmas in the Canary Isles before crossing to Yorktown, New York, Boston and Halifax before returning to Rochefort where no doubt other great adventures await her.

Let’s hope she doesn’t make another ‘little navigational error’.

Piers and Lin
From the Saloon of
Play d’eau
Fleming 55

You can get in touch with us any time by using our Contact Form.