n°7  du 30  juin 2008

 De la Nouvelle Angleterre à la Nouvelle Ecosse
Cette semaine, le Belem a quitté les eaux territoriales des USA pour celles du Canada, marchant, littéralement, au radar car le beau temps qui l'avait accueilli à Boston a laissé la place à une brume ouatée qui a persisté du dimanche jusqu'au mardi. Le retour du beau temps a permis de mener à bien la séance toujours très appréciée des photos du Belem prises depuis le Zodiac. Puis arrivée le jeudi à Halifax, où les premiers stagiaires «transatlantiques» attendaient pour embarquer en direction de Québec.
 
 
 Québec en vue !
Destination de ce voyage transatlantique historique du Belem, le Belem n'est plus qu'à quelques encablures du port de Québec, auquel il devrait s'amarrer au quai 19 du Bassin Louise, mercredi 2 juillet en fin d'après midi (heure locale). Cette arrivée, à quelques heures de la journée anniversaire, se veut bien évidemment un hommage à Champlain, qui accosta 4 siècles plus tôt en ce même lieu pour y fonder la ville de Québec. Cette dernière restera pour la postérité la première ville fondée par des européens en Amérique du Nord.
 
  EN BREF...  Plisson rend hommage au Belem
Vendredi dernier, le newsletter de Pêcheur d'Images a rendu un très bel hommage au Belem, à travers les premières photographies de Philip Plisson, embarqué depuis Boston.
 Découvrez le diaporama de Philip Plisson sur le site www.plisson.com
 Retrouvez les images de l'escale de Boston dans l'Actualité en Images.
 The Belem logbook
« Play misty for me »... was definitely in the air this week as the Belem wound her way along the coast of New England, bound for Halifax. At least, everyone supposed it was the coast because when it came to seeing anything, there was nothing doing, at least during the day. On the Sunday evening however, the mist lifted enough for guests on board to admire the two Portland lighthouses. Next day, the ship put up anchor in Rockland Bay, where the guests disembarked and reached land by Zodiac. There again, the weather improved and it became possible to take in the amount of tall ships sailing along the bay, including several elegant schooners.
The following night, the Belem crossed over into Canadian waters and, after another day of sailing blindly through the mist, the sun really came out on the Wednesday along the coast of Nova Scotia. Thanks to the Zodiac, the remaining passengers – practically all journalists, photographers, cameramen – took a trip around the Belem, shooting her from all directions and under every possible angle.
The ship reached Halifax around 2 p.m. and all those who were not on duty took off for a visit of the town, overlooked by its citadel and the “Old Town Clock” – a present from Edward, Duke of Kent, in 1800.
On the harbour, a statue of Samuel Cunard (1787-1865) pays homage to the founder of the eponymous sailing company. Not far from there, a stone stele has been set up as a reminder of the “Grand dérangement” or Great disturbance”: on July 28th 1755, the British authorities systematically uprooted and sent off into exile 10 000 French men and women established there since the foundation of Acadia in 1604. A sad and cruel episode of the colonial wars, immortalized by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in his famous poem “Evangeline”...
Halifax is also famous as the port from where 495 000 Canadian soldiers sailed towards Europe during the Second World War to join in the fight for freedom.
 
As for the Belem, she took sail on the Thursday on her way, through the mist again, towards Quebec, having taken  aboard a team of eager trainees.