Belem (ship)

Last updated
Belem(02).jpg
Belem moored at Ostend, Belgium
History
Flag of France.svg France
Name
  • Belem (1896-1914)
  • Petit Antillais (1914-1921)
  • Fantôme II (1921-1952)
  • Giorgio Cini (1952-1979)
  • Belem (1979-present)
Namesake Belém, Brasil
Builder Chantiers Dubigeon, Nantes (Chantenay-sur-Loire)
Launched10 June 1896
Maiden voyage31 July 1896 to Montevideo and Belém, Brasil
Homeport Nantes
Identification
StatusActive
General characteristics
Tonnage
  • 406 tons
  • 534 GRT
Displacement750 tons
Length
  • 51 m (167 ft 4 in) LPP
  • 48 m (157 ft 6 in) LOA
  • 58 m (190 ft 3 in) (LPP + bowsprit)
Beam8.8 m (28 ft 10 in)
Draught3.6 m (11 ft 10 in)
Sail plan Barque
Endurance2 x diesel engines

Belem is a three-masted barque from France.

Line art of Belem French tallship Belem.png
Line art of Belem

She made her maiden voyage as a cargo ship in 1896, transporting sugar from the West Indies, cocoa, and coffee from Brazil and French Guiana to Nantes, France.

Contents

History

Belem escaped the eruption of Mount Pelée in Saint-Pierre, Martinique, on 8 May 1902. On arriving at Saint Pierre ahead of the eruption, Captain Julien Chauvelon found that roadsteads were full of vessels. With no place to anchor the ship Chauvelon angrily decided to anchor some miles further away off a beach, which provided shelter when the volcano erupted.

She was sold in 1914 to Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster, who converted her to his private luxurious pleasure yacht, complete with two auxiliary Bolinder Diesel engines of 300 HP each.

In 1922 she became the property of Sir Ernest Guinness, of the Guinness family, who renamed her the Fantôme II and revised the rig from a square rigger. [1] [2] Guinness was Rear Commodore of the Royal St. George Yacht Club, in Kingstown, Ireland, from 1921 to 1939. He was Vice Commodore from 1940 to 1948. Hon. A.E. Guinness took the Fântome II on a great cruise in 1923 with his daughters Aileen, Maureen, and Oonagh. [3] They sailed the seven seas in making a travel round the world via the Panama and Suez Canals including a visit to Spitsbergen. During her approach to Yokohama harbour while sailing the Pacific Ocean the barque managed to escape another catastrophe - an earthquake which destroyed the harbour and parts of Yokohama city. Guinness died in 1949. The Fântome II was moored in the roads of Cowes, Isle of Wight.

In 1951 she was sold to the Venezian count Vittorio Cini, who named her the Giorgio Cini after his son, who had died in a plane crash near Cannes on 31 August 1949 . She was rigged to a barkentine and used as a sail training ship until 1965, when she was considered too old for further use and was moored at the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice.

In 1972 the Italian carabinieri attempted to restore her to the original barque rig. When this proved too expensive, she became the property of the shipyard. In 1976 the ship was re-rigged to a barque.

Finally, in January 1979, she came back to her home port as the Belem under tow by a French seagoing tug, flying the French flag after 65 years. Fully restored to her original condition, she began a new career as a sail training ship.

On 8 and 9 May 2024, she will have the honor to carry the Olympic flame for the upcoming 2024 Summer Olympics torch relay by sailing from Athens, Greece to Marseille. [4]

Current specifications of the Belem

The Belem in Dublin on 14 July 2010 Belem a Dublin 14 7 2010.JPG
The Belem in Dublin on 14 July 2010

406 tons and 51 m of length

Masting - rigging

Sails

Propulsion and equipment

Performance

Crewmen

See also

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References

  1. Gloaguen, Laurent (October 2016). "Histoire du belem 1921-1939, le Fantôme II". 3mats.net (in French). Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  2. Bourke, Edward J. "The Guinness Fleets". lugnad.ie (in French). Journal of Research on Irish Maritime History. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  3. Derek Wilson, ‘Plunket , Aileen Sibell Mary (1904–1999)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2012 accessed 9 Oct 2017
  4. Maine, Mathieu (23 June 2023). "Paris 2024 Olympics organizers unveil torch relay map". Le Monde. Retrieved 28 June 2023.