Adding to the atmosphere in Galway Harbour this August bank holiday weekend is the impressive famous French tallship, the three mast training barque Belém built almost 130 years ago, writes Jehan Ashmore.
The black and white hulled trainee barque is on tour of Irish ports to include the Port of Galway, where in Dun Aengus Dock yesterday afternoon the 58m length overall (LOA) tallship came alongside Mulvoy Quay. On board is a permanent crew of 16 and up to 48 trainees who are having time in port for both rest and recreation in the City of the Tribes.
The tallship is operated by The Caisse d’Epargne Fondation Belém (Belem Foundation), a Paris-based non-profit organisation that provides sailing training ships where the public can sail on a tallship of the ‘Belle Epoque’ era. A period in which sailing merchant ships were slowly displaced by steamships. The barque is the last 19th century French tallship in operation and has been recognized as an historic monument among the nation's cultural assets.
Belem’s merchant ship role saw the transport of various cargoes across the Atlantic, notably spices, and sugar from the West Indies, as well as cocoa and coffee from its Brazilian namesake port of Belém do Pará and French Guiana to Nantes, where the grand old lady of the sea, was built for a French shipowner at Dubigeon shipyards on the Loire on 10 June, 1896. This was the same year the first edition of the modern Olympic Games was held in Athens.
According to Christelle Hug de Larauze, General Delegate of the Belem Foundation, "The Belem is the oldest ship in the world to be registered by Bureau Veritas".
With a ship of such age and so much history, the French are proud of having the oldest European ship and the oldest three-mast in the world still sailing, according to its captain, Aymeric Gibet.
Another accolade to add took place in May, as Belem had the honour of carrying the Olympic Torch from Athens, Greece, to Marseilles in advance of the Paris Games, whose impressive river Seine based parade of athletes on a flotilla took place a week ago.
This river spectacle involved 85 vessels of various types and sizes, age, and design, all adding to the spectacle, and likewise to another, when Belem recently attended the Maritime Festival in Douarnenez, Brittany, during the 'Grande Parade' of Sail.
Prior to Belem’s visit to Galway, which last took place in 2017, the class ‘A’ tallship, took a leisurely sail along the rugged Atlantic west coast, having also visited Cork city quays last weekend. Since then, Afloat tracked the barque to outside the mouth of Dingle Harbour, Co. Kerry, and it is noted it was also off the Aran Islands, among them Inishmore, the largest of the archipelago.
Among the previous owners of the Belem was beer baron Sir Arthur Ernest Guinness, when the barque renamed Fantôme II was where he and his family made a world cruise a century ago that ended in 1924, the last time France held the Olympics.
On this current call to Galway as Afloat reported, is trainee Graham O'Donnell, whose great-grandfather was chief engineer, who exactly 100 years ago was on board the Fantôme II during its world cruise with the Guinness family.
They had the comfort of more luxurious cabin quarters, as the merchant cargo ship was transformed into a private yacht by its previous owner, a British aristocrat, the second Duke of Westminster.
Among the works included the centerpiece of the luxury yacht, a double-spiral staircase, and the majestic main deck house lined with Cuban mahogany, dating from 1914, which are still visible on board. Along with adding a balustrade at the poop deck.
Since its launch on the Loire, surprisingly, Belem has only had three names and four owners in that long timeframe, as Afloat previously reported.
The barque is to remain in Galway beyond the bank holiday Monday as it is scheduled to depart three days later on 8 August when bound for Belfast.
