Belém, the iconic French-flagged trainee tallship and one-time Guinness family luxury yacht that earlier this year carried the Olympic flame from Greece to the host nation, is currently visiting Irish ports, writes Jehan Ashmore.
Prior to this weekend's visit to Cork, Belem had departed Liverpool, and today at the time of writing it is off the Old Head of Kinsale before it continues its western seaboard passage to Galway. The barque is to arrive at the harbour’s Mulvoy Quay (Dun Aengus Dock) on 1 August.
The impressive Belem, the last of the great French merchant sailing ships of the 19th century still sailing, has a long history, given its past 128 years. Belem was built as a barque at the Dubigeon shipyards, Nantes, France, in 1896, also the year when the first edition of the modern Olympic Games was held in Athens.
In April this year, the Olympic torch was on board the 51m tallship on a voyage through the Mediterranean from the Greek capital to Marseilles ahead of this week’s start of the Paris Games. The capital on Friday night presented to the world, the official opening ceremony, centred on a spectacular Seine based parade of athletes on board a flotilla of 85 boats as part of the overall extravaganza.
Just over a week before, Belem departed among the Grand Parade of sail in Brittany, having attended the Brest-Douarnenez Maritime Festival. Over this weekend, the tallship visited Cork city at Albert Quay, where onlookers from the south-bank of the Lee could take in the presence of the impressive old lady of the sea, which since its launch on the Loire has surprisingly had only three names and four owners.
Belem’s French connection continues, as the merchant tallship was built originally to serve in a career transporting mostly, spices and cocoa beans from her north Brazilian namesake city of Belém do Pará. On arrival in Europe, this involved heading upriver on the Seine to supply the cocoa for a Paris-based chocolate maker.
After a career sailing between South America and Europe, Belem was transferred to the British flag, having become the property of the Duke of Westminster, who converted her to a luxury pleasure yacht. She was subsequently renamed Fantôme II having been sold to the Hon. Arthur Ernest Guinness.
The tallship took part in the Cowes regattas; in addition, the Guinness family made a world cruise between 1923 and 1924, this saw his wife and three daughters also take to the seas to see the world.
In 1951, the vessel became the Italian sail-trainee Giorgio Cini, and by 1979, the name of Belem was revived along with flying the French flag once more. Following its sale to Caisse d'Epargne, they returned to its original name in homage to its prestigious past and brought it back to France with the help of the French Navy.
In the following year, The Caisse d'Epargne created Fondation Belém, a Paris-based organisation that provides sailing training ships to the public, with trainees able to take to the seas.
Belem has previously visited several Irish ports, among them Cork, Galway, and Dublin, and in promoting the French wine trade in Ireland and directly exporting across the Atlantic from Bordeaux to Quebec, Canada.
