Sail with New Freebooters

How I discovered Belém

While I was on foreign assignment in Paris in the mid 1980s, I noticed a tall ship moored to a quay on the Seine, and was delighted to be able to go aboard and learn a little about her.

She was called Belém, after the capital city of the northern Brazilian state of Pará in Amazonia, also known as the City of Mango Trees. She was undergoing extensive repairs and renovation, so that she could become a sail training vessel.

It was many years later that I discovered the full details of her adventurous life. In this post, I’ll summarise her career. Later, I’ll give you a closer look at some of her voyages.

The story of her life

Fernand Crouan, a shipowner from Nantes, transported cocoa from Brazil and sugar from West Indies for the chocolate maker Menier. If you haven’t tasted Chocolat Menier Patissier, you should. Really intended for cooking, it’s my favourite dark chocolate.

In 1896, he ordered the Dubigeon yard in Nantes to build him the three-masted sailing ship that he christened Belém. Construction took seven months, and she was delivered to her owner on 30 July 1896.

Crouan operated Belém on the Brazilian cocoa and sugar route until 1914, by which time steamships were driving the last sailing ships out of business. During his ownership, she and her crew had a very lucky escape.

In May 1902, she arrived at Saint-Pierre-de-la-Martinique to find her berth occupied by another ship. Captain Chauvelon sailed round to anchor in Robert, on the other side of the island, which saved the lives of the whole crew of Belém.

Mont Pélée had already begun to produce mud and ashes, but the local authorities were more concerned about keeping the people’s minds on the forthcoming general election. One ship, Orsolina, escaped harbour before Mont Pélée blew up and destroyed the town. Captain Ferrata knew Vesuvius well, and he saw the warning signs. Harbour regulations insisted that captains must obtain clearance before leaving port, under threat of heavy penalties. Ferrata’s response was ‘“Who will apply them to me? Tomorrow, you will all be dead!”. He was right.

In 1914, the Duke of Westminster, impressed by her beautiful lines, bought Belém and had her fitted out as a luxury yacht. In 1921, he sold her to Ernest Guinness, owner of the famous Irish brewerey, who renamed her Fantôme II. Guinness sailed her all year round, circumnavigated the world in her, and took her to Montreal in 1937 for the celebration of the coronation of George VI.

In 1939, Ernest Guinness died and Fantôme II was laid up in the Isle of Wight until 1952, when a foundation set up by the Venetian senator, count Vittorio Cini, bought her as a sail training ship intended for the orphans of Italian sailors. Under the name Giorgio Cini she served until 1965, when she was deemed unseaworthy, but the foundation kept her moored to a quay, serving for some years as a boarding school.

In 1972, she was given to the carabinieri, who believed they had the funds necessary to turn her back into a seaworthy training ship. In 1976, the money ran out and the shipyard took her in payment.

In 1977, the French doctor Luc-Olivier Gosse heard about Giorgio Cini from an Italian friend and went to see the boat. When he discovered that she was one of the last ocean-going sailing ships of the French Merchnat Navy, he called the Association pour la Sauvegarde et la Conservation des Anciens Navires Français.

They sent a delegation to the yard to discuss the possibility of buying the Giorgio Cini, but were discouraged by the asking price of 5 million Francs. Even with the help of the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Defence and the Merchant Marine they were well short of the asking price. Meanwhile, an Italian syndicate backed by a bank declared an interest in buying Giorgio Cini. The pressure was on.

In 1979, the Union Nationale des Caisses d’Épargne offered to contribute. After new negotiations with the yard, they bought Giorgio Cini for 4.5 million Francs. Surveyors from the French Navy and the Direction des Constructions et Armes navales (DCAN) asked the yard to do some additional work on the hull, her name was changed back to Belém of Nantes, and on 5 August 1979 she was launched and the French Navy tug Actif towed her out and escorted her home.

Ten days later, she entered the port of Toulon.

On September 5th, the ocean-going tug Éléphant took over and lead her to Brest. On September 17th, joined at Pointe Saint Mathieu by the Navy schooners Étoile and Belle-Poule, the cutter Mutin and the launch of the maritime Admiral-Prefect of Brest, Belém entered the natural harbour in triumph.

About 5 years later, I went on board her in Paris. In 1987, the year I left Paris and returned to England, she went into service as a sail training ship and joined the world’s Tall Ships fleet.

The above photo was taken by Bruno Girin at the 2000 Tall Ships Festival in Brest. It is available in higher definition from DHD Multimedia Gallery.

If you can’t wait for more tales of Belém, take a look at the Belém website (English language pages). This site was my main source of information.