On Saturday, August 29, Hermione is back in its case in Rochefort in the Charente dating from the island of Aix, after nearly four and a half months at sea. The replica of ship had followed in the footsteps of the historic journey that took Lafayette fight for American independence in 1780. The tribute ended, it now alternate between periods of navigation and long stays as a centerpiece of the arsenal in his homeport.
On Saturday, a sailboat surrounded ballet Hermione at anchor. The banks were full of curious, from more or less far to greet one last time the great lady, applaud his cannon shots, and celebrate the crew. Libération was on deck time for an afternoon. Between two cannon fire, meet the crew, consisting of 15 professional sailors and sixty volunteers topmen.
Yann Cariou captain Hermione
“From sacred sailors”
“ Hermione surprised us, until the last days at sea. We knew that this boat was the ultimate technology of the time, but we still underestimated its performance and ours. There were more than 200 sailors on board, we were 80, and we did better browsing faster. All thanks to 15 professional sailors, I have chosen because they were the best, but also thanks to top-men, who were excellent volunteers. It is a great pride. We sailed with people who were not even from sailors, students, workers, artisans, most had never sailed before. They all became sacred sailors, and I know whereof I speak. We had difficult conditions, especially during the Transatlantic return, with these four depressions that we picked because we had a tight schedule and need for speed. They often had a heroic behavior, even if they do not recognize. What they did, I do not know if I could have done. When I think they worked up there clinging to the masts in heavy weather, struggling with the sails for two hours, I say bravo. And all this in an extraordinary atmosphere, because these are 80 people who joined the ship by passion. “
Antoine Faure Lieutenant navigation
“The values of the time were met”
“I have the honor to the last quarter, to be lieutenant navigation for even four hours, with all the excitement and emotion that implies. It happens a lot today, four months and a half after leaving. The Hermione has nothing, she is like a tree in winter without her veil, nothing. The loop is closed after more than 11,000 miles, more than halfway around the Earth. Everything was an adventure, launching the project, construction, shipping, return today. We are proud to bring Hermione and its sailors in top form. The boat has shown its power, I particularly remember a quarter where he was asked the most and where he gave it to us. It is in these moments that we see the strength that can have a group of people, and that cohesion can accomplish. It was written that this boat could sail well, we knew through the newspaper of the commander of Hermione of the time, De la Touche [Louis-René-de Madeleine The Vassor Touche, Count of Tréville says "Latouche-Treville"]. They made 14 knots, we had 13.3. We can consider that the time values have been reached. Today we know that we operated a historic replica as well as its original. “
Aurore Le Vilain, 32 volunteer boatswain
“This search for self, I knew I should find”
“I am a volunteer for the past year and a half. I volunteered on site at the end of the construction of the frigate, I participated in sea trials and maintenance during the rainy season. I will help also to disarm the boat arrived. It’s important for me to be there to the end, after living the departure and Transatlantic go. Originally, I am a translator. This adventure has nothing to do with my profession. These are all new areas of the brain that have been tested to learn how to navigate, I wanted to confront myself with manual labor. It was hard at first, it’s like using a muscle that we do not normally use, you feel weak. What I’ve come for, the search for self, I knew I should find. But I still find myself to feel happy in the strong sense, I do not expect to be so fascinated by engineering, for this good practice and mechanical sense that we acquire here. Topmen that are in a particular emotion is predictable. But to see the professionals, those who make it in life for thirty years, in that same emotion, it is the sign that goes something special on board. There’s an energy around this boat we can hardly explain. Everyone falls in love with the same boat and the same project, Hermione is a fastener. In the autumn, I will follow a basic training in maritime high school to get the little passport that will allow me to continue browsing. I do not know how will be organized later, but in any case I understood something and I’m less afraid to dream. Today is proof that it was well worth dreaming. “
Heloise Chaigne, 26 volunteer boatswain
“Yes, I’m able to go as high, pulling as hard”
“I’m training landscape. I’ve traveled a lot and thought a lot about what the trip means to me. I visited the ship while I was looking for work. I returned to Paris the same evening the letter was written to the captain, in one go, very instinctive. I volunteered for a year and I boarded June 27 in Philadelphia. I highly educated and for the first time in my life I had a lot of work, but I learned just for me. Neither a note or for a degree or for a contest, just because it made me happy. Manual work on board made me much good. There are tasks that require to be very clever, very patient, and sometimes you just pull with all his might. It was sometimes very tiring, but the body gets used, and it’s nice to feel physical fatigue, not just a nervous fatigue. There are things I obtained myself: yes, I am able to go as high, pulling as hard to sit in my harness and trust the equipment. Sometimes it also takes a lot of mental strength and concentration, I am mostly reported during the Transatlantic back when I was in the bar. For the rest, I deliberately did not predict anything. I knew it would be impossible to fix any thing after that. I needed to have a wide open door. I know what I do not want: spend my days working behind a screen. I did not want this boat to be just a parenthesis. “
Loïc Bailliard, 29 journalist on board Hermione
“If I shoot, how do I remember it ? “
” I have a role outside the watch on board, since I am responsible for documenting life on the boat. I was motoring journalist and someone I worked with told me about Hermione and asked me if I was ready to embark on five months. I put a quarter of a half a second to say yes, and five seconds to realize what I had done. I had by all and for all spent three weeks of my life on a boat before boarding Hermione. Telling such a trip is not easy. There are of course practical constraints: all tie on his desk, doing montages whatever the circumstances so that everything is sent by satellite to France. But it is also a great paradox between those moments when I did not know what to say and that feeling of frustration five months later, thinking of the videos that I did not, and things I did not know show. This boat, which are above all relations, difficult to show while taking account of what should remain private. And personally, there are days like today when I did not want to hold the camera. I have a clear memory of a sunset, the most beautiful, I chose not to film. A bosun asked me why. “If I shoot, how do I do to remember it?” At the same time, several times I remember having left the yards climb camera without cursing me to miss especially spectacular images. Sometimes, you also get to take a step back, which is not easy on a boat: step back in the proper sense, going to the outermost point of the boat to see sail. This is where you realize how what we see is just amazing. “
For the return of the frigate and her crew, Rochefort has planned a grand welcome, while sound and light meals in parades and costumed. The festivities have not dried up the weekend, and the streets still echo the songs of sailors. The heads do not think Hermione disarmed. And is still contemplating, illuminated in its dry dock: “She is beautiful, even chained” whispers a passer
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