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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSupplies of cognac have been loaded onto the vessel using strictly traditional methods...
Last edited Sat Apr 18, 2015, 11:08 AM - Edit history (1)
Well, thank god for that. I was afraid they might have to sail completely sober!
Many of the replica vessel's 54 volunteers had never before been out at sea
This is the Hermione, faithful replica of the original French ship of that name, and the fruit of 20 years' devotion, ingenuity and sheer hard graft.
For it was the Hermione that in 1780 carried to Boston a young French aristocrat - Gilbert du Motier the Marquis de Lafayette - who more than 200 years later still wears the mantle of America's BFF: Best French Friend. Ever.
It is hoped that the new Hermione will play a role in reviving some of France's neglected maritime traditions
Completed in 1779 at the port of Rochefort, the Hermione (the French pronounce it Air-mee-on) was the pride of the French navy. She was small (216ft [65m] and 34 guns) but she was sleek and very fast.
In 1783 the English captured the Hermione's sister ship, the Concorde. Before putting her back to war under the Union Jack, they conducted a thorough study - to work out how she sailed so briskly.
Those plans were kept at naval headquarters in Greenwich - and two centuries later formed the basis for the Hermione recreation!
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32350305
___________________
Who knew? The Brits had a hand in her resurrection as well!
MADem
(135,425 posts)Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)She's really something. I wanna go, too!
onehandle
(51,122 posts)Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)eppur_se_muova
(36,262 posts)During the war, France shouldered a financial burden similar to that of Great Britain, as debt from the American Revolutionary War was piled upon already existing debts from the Seven Years' War. The French spent 1.3 billion livres on war costs. When the war ended, France had accumulated a debt of 3,315.1 million livres,[19] a fortune at the time.
The debt caused major economic and political problems for France, and, as the country struggled to pay its debts, eventually led to the Financial Crisis of 1786[20] and the French Revolution in 1789.[21]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_costs_of_the_American_Revolutionary_War#France
malthaussen
(17,195 posts)Another way to look at it is that Sir Thomas Graves was a nincompoop, since the Royal Navy won decisively a few years later at the Saintes, under different leaders. And it is worth noting that some of the best minds in Britain thought the Caribbean sugar islands to be more valuable property than the American colonies, in which they were right short-term. Nobody in the 18th century had the vision to forsee the US's unprecedented conquest of the entire continent.
Which is not to undervalue the contribution made by the French, who spent most of the 18th century trying to defeat Britain and ultimately failed. The US is quite fortunate that our Revolution was a useful gambit in the struggle for European hegemony. But while Lafayette may have been somewhat of a radical Progressive (he commanded the National Guard in the French Revolution, after all), most of his fellow aristocrats didn't give a fig for Liberte, Egalite, and Fraternite. It's kind of interesting that we largely owe our Republic to the success of one bunch of royalists against another bunch of royalists.
-- Mal
malthaussen
(17,195 posts)Hassin Bin Sober
(26,328 posts)Glassunion
(10,201 posts)Just sayin'
malthaussen
(17,195 posts)The French would come out with a fine frigate design, then the British would capture one of the ships and say "Damn, this is better than anything we have going right now," and copy it. If the French navy had fought as sucessfully as their naval architects designed ships, the history of Europe (and the world) from about 1750-1820 would have been very different.
-- Mal
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)basic research and development. Brilliant minds with top-notch science and math backgrounds.
Marketing and sales? Not so much.
The British doing 'industrial espionage' just sounds like business as usual.
Not for nothing do the French call them 'Perfidious Albion'.
malthaussen
(17,195 posts)"Rum, buggary and the lash" was pretty widespread in everyone's navy.
Interesting that they are using a crew of 54. Much less crowded than it would have been with upwards of 300 on board. And frigates were roomy compared to ships of the line.
-- Mal
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)where he says that that was one of the big challenges.
Asking 54 untested volunteers to do the same job as 300 old salts, pas evident !
He says the modern seadogs couldn't hold a candle to their French forerunners.
malthaussen
(17,195 posts)... one notes there is really no way he could know. I am a bit of a student of the 18th century First World War (although a degenerate Anglophile, me), and I do think the volunteers would suffer a bit of a culture shock if they were actually transported back to the period, rather than making a pleasure cruise. But they'll have their work cut out for them anyway, the sail plan of a frigate is pretty damned complex.
-- Mal
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)malthaussen
(17,195 posts)"But below decks they have managed to cram in sleeping space for 70 (hammocks of course) plus kitchens, showers, storage areas, captain's cabin, sail-room, engine room and other facilities."
Showers? And, no doubt, toilets? (You may be aware that the word "head," used in the US Navy for the toilet, is a reference to the cathead of a sailing ship, to which the common sailor clung in all weathers to eliminate. Officers had chamber pots.) Ah, it is so much easier for the sailorman nowadays.
-- Mal
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)malthaussen
(17,195 posts)Somehow, I doubt they cast 12-pounders to fit into those gun-carriages, but if they simply added ballast to account for a couple hundred tons of guns, the ship's sailing qualities will be somewhat different. Still, I'd like to be along for the ride, although definitely not as a topman, since I am plagued with acrophobia.
26 million euros the thing cost. There must have been a LOT of wastage, since Michael Turk built The Grand Turk in 1997 for "only" two million pounds.
Considering the US frigates Constitution and United States cost about $300,000 each (and they were much larger than Hermione), there is a lot more than inflation included in that price tag.
-- Mal
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)malthaussen
(17,195 posts)And those amenities already spoken of. Still, seems like there was a little "graft" involved in the construction, as the article says. (Unintentional irony is always nice)
-- Mal
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)-none
(1,884 posts)There has to be an engine driven screw pushing it along. Look at the wake.
Edited to add:
I was correct. My time in the Navy wasn't all wasted.
"An engine will be used for safety, and electric generators for lighting and basic amenities."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Hermione_%282012%29
malthaussen
(17,195 posts)No chance of this girl being becalmed for weeks while the crew goes mad from thirst. Dang modern times anyway.
-- Mal
-none
(1,884 posts)treestar
(82,383 posts)will be watched so as to avoid any storms that develop.
malthaussen
(17,195 posts)Then again, I doubt their ancestors were, either!
-- Mal
freshwest
(53,661 posts)But all the pictures are beautiful. What an excellent OP.
Loved the "America's BFF: Best French Friend. Ever." reference made there, too!
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)malthaussen
(17,195 posts)... or else at least one vounteer has decided to sport an 18th-century queue.
-- Mal
DonnaM
(65 posts)Irish cognac?
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)http://www.cognatheque.com/fr/4_hennessy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hennessy
Welcome to DU, DonnaM!
DonnaM
(65 posts)And very interesting read on Wiki!
Hiraeth
(4,805 posts)Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)What a gorgeous lady!
malthaussen
(17,195 posts)Ships, aircraft... it seems it is easy to couple efficient and deadly design with beauty. All frigates are pretty, but the smaller and lighter ones more so than the big ones. But I better not fat-shame ships.
-- Mal
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)Gorgeous ship.
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)treestar
(82,383 posts)Hope there will be a way to follow it!