LE BEL ESPOIR

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aukepalmhof
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Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2009 1:28 am

LE BEL ESPOIR

Post by aukepalmhof » Thu Jun 07, 2018 8:18 pm

Built as a wooden three-masted fore-and-aft schooner by J Ring Andersen, Svendborg, Denmark for AES Svendborg (A.C.Sorensen), Denmark.
Launched as the NETTE S.
Tonnage 160 dwt, dim.?
Built of oak and beech.
Sail area about 5000 sq. ft.
Auxiliary engine: 135 hp Alpha diesel. If the engine was placed during building I could not find maybe placed after the war.
1944 Completed.

Her history is a little sketchy from 1944 till 1950 but she was renamed by the owners in ANNETTE S in ?. The only thing I found that she was mostly used in the coastal waters of Denmark.

1950 She was renamed by owners in PEDER MOST and fitted out as cattle carrier to carry about 200 head of cattle between Copenhagen and Hamburg each voyage.

1955 Bought by the Outward Bound Moray Sea School, Burghead, Scotland. She was bought in the neighbourhood of £11,500.
She was refitted in a training vessel, her hatches no longer needed were removed, which included almost in a complete new maindeck.
Accommodation for 24 boys and 5 crew.
30 June 1955 she was rechristened by H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburg in Glasgow and renamed in PRINCE LOUIS (II).
When she was getting to small for the Outward Bound requirements she was sold on 09 May 1968 to the French society Les Amis de Jeudi-Dimanche (Friends of Thursday-Sunday), the society was founded by a catholic prison chaplain Michel Jaouen, known as Pére Jaouen (1920-2016) (Father Jaouen ). This French youth organization encourages recreational activities for schoolchildren. The name of the society arose from the fact that French children are free of school half of Thursday and naturally also Sunday the whole day. Nowadays they have a half free day on Wednesday.
She was renamed in BEL ESPOIR which means “good hope”.

She sailed with young criminals and drugs addicts, during the winter in the Caribbean, and during the summer season in the northern waters. Took also part in some regattas.
During 1993/94 she underwent an extensive overhaul in Camaret and was in January 1994 again in service.
1993 She was declared a historic monument in France.

2017 Taken out of service, she was not more seaworthy, and is moored alongside the Chantier Naval du Moulin de L’Enfer in Landéda in the mouth of the Aber Wrac’h, she is awaiting her fate of a possible restauration or scrapping. The cost to restore her is much higher than to build a replica with a steel hull.
Her details are now: 37.20 x 7.10 x 2.60m. (draught), length of deck 29.30m.
Sail area 545 m².

Source: Sail Training and Cadet Ships by Harold A. Underhill. Mr Jean-Louis Araignon. Great Sailing Ships of the World by Otmar Schauffelen. Various internet sites.
2018 St Pierre et Miquelon 1.30 Euro sg?, scott?
Attachments
peder most 1.jpg
PEDER MOST1.jpg
bel espoir 2.jpg
2018 le bel espoir.jpg

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