What a month June has been for the Belem ! The popular three masted barque celebrated the 30th anniversary of her return under French colours in the midst of her public – tens of thousands of visitors and admirers from one end of the month to the other.
Upon her return from the shores of Morocco on June 5th, she sailed along the Atlantic shores of France, stopping at some of the major ports : Nantes, her « home town », La Rochelle, then down to Bordeaux (for the annual River Festival where our favourite tall ship is now a regular and honoured guest), then north again to the historical military port of Rochefort along the river Charente. Her stopover there had a very special significance since Rochefort is where another piece of maritime history is being brought back to life : the reconstruction of the Hermione, the 18th century frigate that took General La Fayette on his way to join General Washington during the American War of Independence.
But another momerable event took place in Rochefort, namely the arrival on board of a very special lady : Mrs Gill Vaughan whose grandfather and father, AH and HE Frogbrook, were both successive Captains of a certain three-masted ship then known as « Fantôme II » when she was the property of Sir Arthur Guinness from 1921 to 1949... It was an important moment, both for Mrs Vaughan and for the ship that holds so many family memories for her. Another rendez-vous is now scheduled for the end of August in Portsmouth.
July also went off to a good start with the signing, in Paris, of an official convention between the President of the Belem Foundation and the French Navy's Chief of Staff : this convention stipulates that, as from this year, at the end of her sailing season, the Belem will be taking on board the young pupils of the newly recreated « Ecole des mousses » for a 3 day session of practical training.
D'escale en escale, entrecoupées de stages et de quelques navigations privatisées, le Belem est allé à la rencontre de plusieurs dizaines de milliers de visiteurs et de curieux tout au long du mois de juin. Pour fêter au milieu de son public le 30ème anniversaire de son retour sous pavillon français !
Jeudi 9 juillet, dans les salons de la Marine, place de la Concorde à Paris, Paul Le Bihan président de la Fondation Belem et l'Amiral Pierre François Forissier, chef d'état major de la Marine, ont signé une convention relative à l'embarquement des élèves de l'Ecole des mousses sur le Trois-mâts Belem.
