L'Hermione Update, New York Gala!

[Thagarr]

A couple of days ago, L'Hermione left Bordeaux and headed out for the last leg of her sea trails before her spring voyage to America in 2015. After which, she will head back to Rochefort to her dry dock for the winter. From the description in their latest crew blog(translated version), the departure was quite a scene, Mozart blaring from the load speakers, crew in the shrouds and tops and cannon booming! Here is some video uploaded to their official Youtube channel.

Last night they held a Gala in New York aboard the USS Intrepid to raise funds for next years voyage. I have been searching most of last night and this morning looking for any news about this event, but haven't been able to find a single article. Aside from a couple of pictures posted to Twitter from the event, I haven't been able to find much at all.

237 years ago a French nobleman by the name of Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de Lafayette, was willing to give up everything he had to fight for a country he had only just heard of and didn't yet even officially exist. He left the privileged life that he had been born in to, his family estates and fortune in France, his position in the French court, his officers commission in the Musketeers, his beautiful young wife and new baby daughter. In 1777, he put all these things on the line, defied his kings order, purchased and outfitted the ship La Victroire, and left for America to fight for the cause of freedom.

The past couple of years that I have been covering the story of this reproduction of the warship that brought him and the promised aid from France that he helped to secure to America, one things has constantly struck me as unbelievable. No one in America cares. I have found a grand total of one article buried in the New York Times back in 2013. It seems the French are more intersected in American history than most Americans are.

This is not really a surprise to me, I am used to Americans being apathetic when it comes to discussing anything that doesn't involve something that happened on TV, getting drunk, or getting laid. Those three things surpassed baseball as Americas pastime a long time ago. I deal with it every single day at work. I was simply hoping that for once, I could write an article about this ship and her mission without having to translate everything from French first! I will post more when I am actually able to find out something.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

Ya. The more I find out the less I like America and the more I like France. If my retirement income wouldn't be taxes first in America and then again in France I would happily move there.

 

[Thagarr]

I'm not sure I would want to live there, but it would certainly be an option if I did choose to move somewhere else some day. The views of the coast I have seen in these videos is just awesome, with all the old fortresses, castles and Neoclassical architecture. It would be a very scenic place to live for sure.

I am still debating whether or not I am going to be able to make a trip to the East Coast next spring, hopefully Boston. I would really love to see this magnificent vessel in person. I am assuming that some organizations are at least planning on welcoming this ship with the respect honor it deserves, but as yet, I haven't seen any specific plans from anyone.

 

[Thagarr]

Just a bit of an update, they have posted an article about the Gala over on their blog, there is not really a hole lot of information in it though. No mention of a PC game, or the documentary, or the reality TV show. Not even a mention about what all was auctioned or hoe much was raised. You can read the post HERE!

 

[Ashinokami]

Bordeaux is indeed lovely place to live. Mild weather all year, quite a big town with surprisingly well preserved 18th century part. Small streets in close suburbs, just like from Edwardian postcards. My favorite in France so far. And 100km to the west is Dordogne, all truffle infested forests, cliffs and castles:

 

[Thagarr]

Beautiful country indeed! From what I have seen the whole of the French coast is absolutely gorgeous. Here are a couple of other videos I have run across showing a couple of other places L'Hermione has been during her sea trails.

A bike ride through La Rochelle!

Fort Vauban, Fouras.

 

[Thagarr]

I have been able to track down a bit more information about the Gala. The most important of which is the fact that they plan on having L'Hermione in New York harbor to sail past the Statue of Liberty on July 4'th, 2015! It sure would be great to be able to find out what exactly the Americans are planning, if anything!

It seems there were about 400 people in attendance at the gala, but they didn't raise the kind of funding they were looking for. The translated article is a bit confusing on a couple of issues, you can read the full article in French HERE, and you can read the English translation HERE! It's interesting that the site this article is on has an option for an English language version, yet I could not find the same article on the English version of the page.

Anyway, here is some more video of L'Hermione released on their Youtube channel of her tacking.