Less than a year after the ship's return, the Caisses d'Epargne set up the Belem Foundation. Jérôme Pichard was it's first president. The Foundation was given two major assignments : ensure proper maintenance of the ship and promote France's naval past.
It was decided that the best way to fulfill both duties was to keep the Belem as a training ship, not for seamen, but for members of the public keen on learning about sailing methods and customs of the past. This meant renovating the ship yet again because she had to conform to all the very stringent norms required today in terms of seamanship and safety. The job took all of four years. The man responsible was Jean Randier, an ex officer of the Merchant Navy, writer and member of the Naval Academy.

 

The Belem was brought to Paris and anchored on the banks of the Seine, at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. There, Randier and his team worked under the eyes of passers-by ; a clever way of involving the public and interesting the media in the restoration of the ship. In 1984, the Belem was classified as a historical monument. In 1986, Jean Randier officially became Captain of the Belem and the following year he sailed the ship across the Atlantic to New York, where she took part in celebrations for the hundredth birthday of the Statue of Liberty.
In 1987, the first training voyages started and have been going ever since.

In 1996, the Belem celebrated her hundredth anniversary : the Caisse d'Epargne organized a series of very successful theatrical performances throughout 17 French ports.

 

 

 

2002 was the year of the Atlantic Odyssey : the Belem sailed teams of trainees in the wake of her past voyages as a merchant ship, from Saint Nazaire, next to Nantes, to the coast of Senegal, to the Brazilian town of Belem do Parà (her namesake), then to Martinique where she reached the port of St Pierre exactly one hundred years after the fateful day of the Montagne Pelée eruption. A very emotional welcome awaited her there... On the way back, she made a halt in the Azores before returning to Saint Nazaire.

In 2004, the Belem's training season included a trip to the Baltic sea and the ports of Scandinavia. This was part of her mission to act, not only in France but internationally, as a representative of French naval tradition. Which is why she is involved in an ever increasing number of major nautical events and regattas, in Kiel, Ostende, Bremerhaven, Rouen, etc. and why she is anchored every year for several weeks in a French port and is opened to the public. The Belem also stars in films and TV documents.

2006 marked her 110th anniversary, joyfully celebrated in all the French ports she called at during her sailing season. Nantes especially welcomed her with enthusiasm and feasting, in memory of that day in 1896 when she elegantly unfurled her sails and sailed away to meet the most extraordinary destiny and live the longest life ever given to a French three masted barque...