Once again the Belem has been on a voyage of discovery – after last year's trip across the Atlantic to Quebec, our valiant three-master crossed the Mediterranean to Morocco for a visit that may well be the first of many... At the end of 700 nautical miles of crossing, with a stopover in the Balearic Islands, the Belem arrived in sight of Tangiers on May 9th in a squall of east winds that made for a series of exhausting but successful manoeuvres at the harbour entrance. Supper in a typical restaurant in the medina greatly helped restore everyone's strength ...
Next evening, the Belem left for Rabat carrying a new group of 30 trainees... all Moroccans that had volunteered for this unprecedented trip that the Belem Foundation had decided to set aside for the benefit of Moroccan nationals. Amongst the passengers was Leïla Mazian, writer and historian specialising in Moroccan maritime history, author of an award-winning book on the 17th Century pirates who scoured the seas from the port of Salé, next to Rabat, right up to Iceland... So naturally, sailing on a ship like the Belem was, for her, akin to reliving part of the maritime history of her country !
After a fine day's sailing, the Belem reached the newly restored harbour of Rabat, at the foot of the historic Oudaïa Kasbah above the cliffs that line the Bouregreg river. Any fears of having to deal with the sandbar at the entrance of the harbour were quickly put to rest since the vast work of redeveloping the Bouregreg district separating Rabat from Salé included a complete dredging of the estuary thus making it sailable again. The Belem's extremely punctual arrival was somewhat delayed by an unexpected visit from a masked and gloved medical team come to make sure that nobody on board was wandering around with porcine flue... as well as a sniffer dog who scrambled laboriously up and down the various ship's ladders vainly searching for forbidden substances !
The following 6 days were given over partly to a series of receptions and partly to welcoming on board thousands of visitors, including many groups of schoolchildren. People flocked to see the first ship to actually berth in Rabat harbour for many a long year, therefore the first to prove the viability of the place. On top of that, the fact that this first visitor from the sea was the Belem, France's oldest Tall Ship, was a strong symbolic gesture by the Foundation, the French authorities and the Bouregreg Agency responsible for opening up the town to maritime traffic: it was a way of reminding the Moroccan people of their rich nautical past and of the economic wealth today's maritime industry is bringing to a country more used to the famous merchant caravans of the past. So, when the Belem left for Portugal on May 11th, there was definitely a feeling that it's “au revoir” to Morocco was certainly not a “farewell”.
Du 9 au 17 mai, le Belem a séjourné au Maroc, et plus particulièrement à Rabat qui a célébré à cette occasion la réouverture de son accès à la mer. Un accueil chaleureux et fastueux pour cet ambassadeur du pavillon français venu associer son image à celle d'un pays qui souhaite redonner vie à sa tradition maritime.
Parmi les passagers du trajet Tanger-Rabat se trouvait Leïla Maziane, historienne, universitaire, et auteur de «Salé et ses corsaires (1666-1727)», pour lequel elle a reçu le Prix du Livre Corderie Royale - Hermione 2008. Nous lui avons demandé d'évoquer la passionnante histoire des corsaires de Salé. 
