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L' Hermione Update, Voyage 2015 and Beyond!

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There seems to be some on going confusion about just when L' Hermione's sea trials will start, that confusion has probably been in the translation from French to English through Google translate. In an earlier article, I mentioned that her sea trials would begin in July, that is incorrect and I apologize for my lack of diligence in trying to get the most accurate translation possible. L' Hermione will start her sea trials in September.

On Saturday September 6'th, she will leave her dry dock in Rochefort and slip down once again into the estuary of Charente River. There are expected to be several tens of thousands of people on hand, and there are ceremonies planned, but no details have been released yet. From there, she will sail at high tide, with her masts reduced from 54 to 47 meters to clear a bridge and a viaduct. Once clear and in open water, she will sail North to the southern end of the island of Aix located at the mouth of the river where she will anchor for several days. During which time she will be checked over and final preparations made. Her first real sailing test will come after that as she heads south to the Gironde estuary near Bordeaux. She will spend some time in October, 9'th through the 13'th, in Bordeaux giving tours of the ship there as well. She will return to Rochefort in Novenmber to winter over in her dry dock for maintanance.

In March of 2015, she will conduct more sea trails, and then in April she will set sail for the east coast of America where her first stop will be in Yorktown, VA. The trip is expected to take around 40 days, as she will make a stop at the Canary Islands along the way. She is expected to arrive in Yorktown between June 5'th and 7'th. She is scheduled to make another 8 stops at ports along the east coast and spend two or three days at each stop. You can find the full itinerary in the PDF HERE! Hopefully closer to her departure, they will release more dates and details. Her final port of call as of now is scheduled to be Halifax, Canada from July 17 to 20. After which she will make a return crossing that may be marked by a stop in Saint Pierre and Miquelon dock in Brest before Aug. 9, 2015. A week later, L' Hermione returns to Rochefort and its dry dock.




Here is a video I found over on DailyMotion that shows a group of volenteers who meet twice a week to sew the costumes that the crew will wear. Yet another example of the of the group effort it has taken to get this ship built, outfitted and ready for her voyage.


Things are looking good for the stern lantern as well, the kisskissbankbank.com campaign is now up to 141 backers and € 6,795! That's almost 100 backers and almost € 4000 in just one week! With 73 days remaining, they have a pretty good chance of full funding.

There has also been some discussion of a second major sailing trip for L' Hermione in 2017 or 2018 that will take the vessel to the Indian Ocean and on to India via the Mediterranean and the Suez CanaI. I guess a trip around the Horn would just take to long. It takes quite a bit of planning for such a voyage and there are no definite dates or ports set for that one yet. In the mean time, the frigate will again visit Brest in 2016, from July 13'th through the 19'th, as she has been invited to Fêtes maritimes.

 

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I just had a thought, and yes it hurt. :diomed

If they expect to make the crossing in 40 or so days, then what kind of speed are the expecting to make? It took Columbus about 9 weeks to make landfall and he averaged just under 4 knots.
 
An interesting question for sure. According to THIS post over on their blog by the captain, with her engines at half power(50%) she will be able to do 7 knots. I haven't been able to find an estimate of speed under full sail, but she does sport quite good bit of canvas and should be pretty respectable, but I don't think anyone knows for sure what her top speed will be. I reckon we will find out some time in September!
 
The original was quite a good sailer, here is a quote from Jean Boudriot's History of the French Frigate: "The frigates built by Chevillard Jr. Were excellent, as we learn from the reports on the Aurore, Gracieuse, & Hermione. They answered the helm better than most, carried their sail well, rolled and pitched easily, and tried excellently. They performed well close-hauled, with with the notable advantage of being able to work to windward and hold their wind. L'Aurore logged 8 to 9 knots under single-reefed topsails, sailed large well ( her best point of sailing provided the wind was strong), her performance with the wind astern was satisfactory and with little tendency to roll. These vessels held a weather helm rather than being slack, which is essential in order to hold a course, and they veered remarkably well. They out-performed all other frigates, especially with the wind on the quarter, but were best not overcharged with canvas aloft." Given that he refers to them as superior, and quotes ships built to the lines of Belle Poule of 1765 as logging 10.5 knots close-hauled, 13 knots large, and 11 knots before the wind, the original Hermione was probably at least close in speed.
 
Thanks for the information mate, it is much appreciated! I haven't had the time to really investigate the original Hermione, other than the Wikipedia article. We probably won't get a whole lot more about her news-wise either until a few weeks before she starts her sea trails. Most of the news outlets in France haven’t had much on her since the last cannon arrived anyway. Though I am certainly learning much more about Harry Potter than I ever wanted to know searching for news about her, I hate Google! :rolleyes:
 
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