Hermione arrives safely after his American journey – Le Figaro

GRAPHICS / IMAGES – The famous three-masted ship entered the harbor of Brest early in the afternoon on Monday, after two Atlantic crossings and numerous stopovers. The frigate will stay in the Breton port until August 17 for a week of festivities prior to heading to Bordeaux and Rochefort.

Nearly four months after his departure from the French coast, The Hermione , an exact replica of the barque of Lafayette, pointed its bow at the entrance of the Narrows of Brest, just 13 hours after it Monday. Back from his American journey, the majestic ship, watched by fans, appeared surrounded by a forest of masts of sailboats plaisances and tall ships. He then landed around 15 hours in the heart of Finistère port where a week of festivities is planned to celebrate the end of his first transatlantic adventure.

On Monday, many fans were at the dock for the ship’s arrival. The “Petit Minou lighthouse”, which marks the entrance to the harbor of Brest, was passed to 1:15 p.m. this magnificent armada. Before her, in contrast with its modernity, “Latouche-Treville,” a steel frigate, two centuries later out of naval arsenals, opened the sea, while the “Recouvrance” symbol replica of a Brest aviso schooner from 1817, beautifully brought up the rear.

The appearance of the majestic ship of 65 m, with its 2,200 square meters of sail inflated by the wind, was celebrated with cannon and jets water launched from the tug L’Abeille Bourbon , famous accompanying boat and rescue. The frigate fired six shots before his topmen guns begin to get into the yards to furl the sails, when the ship approached the harbor.

Avant Brest and after the celebrations that have succeeded on the east coast of North America from early June to mid-July, the crew of Hermione lived, which was not expected, a back a little hectic, with a reconstruction scale, a “tobacco blow” as could live on these ships there is a little more than two centuries. From Saint Pierre and Miquelon, last stop before Brest, depression hit and turned the hurricane with winds of 70 knots (130 km / h) and gusts of 110 to 120 knots. The crew faced a wave of “7 meters established stronger”, the ship reaching a record speed of 13.3 knots, or more than 24 km / h for this boat of more than 1200 tonnes.

When L’Hermione arrived in Brest on Monday afternoon, some 80 people were on board, including more than 60 volunteers.