Looks like I spend a few days in range of the famous French frigate rebuild! :shock:
Home Harbour of L‘Hermione is Rochefort. 29 km away from me.
The blue arrow on the map is my position.
Stay tuned...
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Looks like I spend a few days in range of the famous French frigate rebuild! :shock:
Home Harbour of L‘Hermione is Rochefort. 29 km away from me.
The blue arrow on the map is my position.
Stay tuned...
Go for it Sven.
I had to cross the Atlantic to see her.
Rob.
Sven, If you get to see her will you post some photo's here please.
I was in Rochfort a few years ago but didn't see her. It must be interesting for the Captain getting up the Charante River it's very twisty and from memory runs quite strongly.
Probably the same way she came into Yorktown, under auxiliary engine power.
Rob.
Rochefort is hard to master with the tide action.
I think you need some rudder boats to pull here into the docks.
I‘ll report...
Here's a couple of photos from her trip to the US.
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Captain - still serving as such today.
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You can catch a few shots of Hermione in Yorktown here.
https://sailsofglory.org/album.php?albumid=335
The first picture is Bligh meets Washington. This was arranged by Richard Schwab who knew the guy playing General Washington from his re-enactment days.
Rob.
...and here are some photos of the l'Hermione in Rochefort in Summer 2018:
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Super pictures Achim. That takes me back a few years.
Rob.
Hey, Fort Louvois is in that neighborhood too!
Just south of the action we are fighting Dobbs.
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Rob.
Saw this one too,yesterday.
A few pictures for you.
Not much text because I send them with my mobile phone.
But it was really impressing to see that ship!
Everything was well explained, from sailing, rigging, cannons, navigating, etc.
Some pictures on the side again, I’ll correct this next week.:help:
At the moment the ship is repaired and the workers are busy with all the work that is to do to keep the ship in a sailable condition.
The white flag carries the names of al sponsors.
Very nice tour of the ship. When I was onboard I was told that one of the 12 lb guns is an original dating to the 18th century!
Yes, up to 3 guns on board are originals. The rest - full metal - reproductions.
The things I missed were the gunports and a more nice Stern section.
But a great experience to be on board.
Yes I thought it strange that there were no gun ports! I understand this was not uncommon for French ship design. I believe they did have some covering for heavy weather though. Someone on the Naval Action PC game forum is a crew member and often posts about the ship.
Yes, they have something to close the gunports vs. bad weather.
It‘s closed from inside.
...and the guns are fixed in the „barrel out“ position.
Even more great pictures Sven.
Rob.
Thanks everyone for the photos, especially Eric's first one, that is a beautiful ship.
Just looked at your Album John The scenics look even better enlarged.
One bit of nit picking though, if you don't mind me mentioning it. Your Palm trees want cutting down a bit. They are higher than the masts of your ships.
Rob.
A very instructive album Achim.
More Kudos to you.
Rob.
Nice album indeed! :salute:
I think you might be on the wrong thread Rob but you are right, the palms should be about half the size they are, what glue do you use for these flexible trees?
On topic, how do I find Achim's album?
I've half a mind to spend some time in Spain this winter, and Rochforte would be on my route there. It's quite an exciting thought.
I was on this thread when I went and looked at your album John.
Rob.
Finally managed to get this present from Tikkifriend framed.
It now has pride of place over my new Wargames table.
Better late than never Paul!
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Rob.
I'm sorry to resurrect this thread but I visited Hermione today and just wanted to thank you all for the inspiration to make the trip, especially Sven who raised it in the first place. When I get chance I will look through the photos I took and see if any add to the collection already posted.
I also went round the Marine Museum which had some lovely models. I did try to persuade Mrs V to buy me a model of the Hermione, they were excellent but at E840 and E1200 she declined and I had to settle for some postcards instead.:sad:
We had a long talk to one of the volunteers who built, sailed and maintain the ship, she proved a mine of information but I had to correct her on one occasion when she refered to the British stealing Concorde, the sister ship to Hermione and where they got the working drawings from to build Hermione. I explained we did not steal her but captured her in a fair fight, although to be honest I don't know if it was a fair fight.
We had a bit of fun discussing the relative merits of our nations ships and navy's and as I consider the longer French ships to look nicer than the more chunky British ships she was very happy with that admission.
If anyone gets the chance I would suggest making the effort to see her, I thoroughly enjoyed my day.
Cheers
That is great John.
I'm glad you enjoyed your visit to see her.
I have a photo I took of her in Yorktown as my desktop, and a cutaway section picture that Paul sent to me hangs proudly over my Wargames table.
The only Hermione I have is the model and I'm afraid she never sailed the Atlantic. She had to fly!
https://sailsofglory.org/attachment....7&d=1434269057
Rob.
Glad, you made it to the ship, John.
The feeling on board has a special touch even lying in a dock.
If you imagine to serve there for month with all kind of weather, work and navigation.
Looking at all those great photographs of L'Hermione, which the others took, you must have had quite an experience visiting her, John.
The volunteer we spoke to, said that there was a crew of 300, half sailors and half soldiers on the original ship, they crew the ship with 80 volunteers. I found it hard to envisage 80 people on board let alone 300.
A couple of years ago I went round Victory in Portsmouth dock yards and it was before I was interested in SofG but I thought then how cramped it was and how low the deck heads were, I was constantly crouched over. On the Hermione there was enough room for me to stand upright between the top 2 decks. The big thing I didn't realise was that the top deck was cutaway, presumably to let light and air into the next deck down.
Rob - I'm impressed you flew your model to see the real thing.
You have to remember that people were not as tall in those days, John. :)
Good one Dave.http://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/ima..._happy_186.gif
Rob.
For size perspective... I'm 5'6" and just under 200lb., and per DM it sounds like I woulda been considered huge by period sailor standards, to the point that when I was thinking about designing a home office after a frigate captain's cabin he made a good case to look at a three-decker's flag bridge instead.
Landlubber contrast, a US Army horse cavalryman even at the end of the pony soldiers could be no taller than I am but weigh no more than 120lb.
I am 5ft 7 and just clear the deck beams on HMS Victory excepting the ones in the bilges which I discovered to my cost a couple of years back.
Rob.
Sorry I probably wasn't clear with the meaning of my observation which was that on Victory (a big ship) I couldn't stand upright but on Hermionie (a small ship) I could stand upright. I wondered if the difference was size of ship, i.e. they tried to get more into the same cubic volume on a larger ship or was it difference in French and British design.
I believe French ships were slightly longer than British ships for a similar type of ship and I wondered if they also had more height. It's probably only about 6 to 12" difference per deck.
I don't imagine French sailors were any taller than British sailors but it seems they had a better space to work in, but it might be the difference between a frigate and a Ship of the Line, rather than nationalistic ship design.
I'm about 5'9" so I'd be interested in any comparisons with other replicas.
Cheers
The interesting thing about the height of people in the past is quite interesting.
Research on the Mary Rose, at the Towton burial ground and the plague pits in London leads to the conclusion that the people of those times were not very different from us up until after the Second World War. The last two generations seem to have put on a spurt in growth.
Rob.