2024-04-27 06:06:02
It is a ship that has experienced a thousand lives and as many misadventures on which the Olympic flame will sail between the port of Piraeus, in Greece, and that of Marseille. Where, on May 8, she will return to dry land. The Belem is 128 years old, having been built in the Nantes shipyards in 1896, the date of the very first modern Olympic Games.
A symbol of longevity which, like the Games, has stood the test of time. Through wars, bankruptcies of its shipowners, accidents and other fires, the famous three-masted steel-hulled ship has always survived to sail once again across the Mediterranean, a sea that it discovered in its second yacht life.
Mules as first goods
But before landing in the hands of the wealthy English and Irish, the ship saw the light of day after six months of construction. Its first mission: to connect South America and return via the Caribbean. Having left the Loire estuary in June 1896, the Belem reached Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, after 50 days. This is where more than 120 mules, intended to reach the city of Belem do Para in Brazil to tow the country’s trams, are loaded. But the journey along the South American coast gave the ship its first cold sweat, between powerful winds and pillaging by customs officers and rescuers who had come to stop a fire in the hold.
Six months after leaving Nantes, Belem returned to France as it left it: empty. The three-masted ship’s second transatlantic campaign was marked by yet another torn sail, a long wait in Montevideo in a country in the midst of revolution, and the death of several mules after the ship ran aground during another strong gale. It would be necessary to wait for the third campaign, a round trip to Buenos Aires, for Belem not to experience any major glitches.
Then came the discovery of the Antilles to bring back sugar, the bankruptcy of the shipowner, the takeover by another and the regular lines between Nantes and Guyana. In 1914, the Belem left the Loire one last time, not to cross the Atlantic but the English Channel. In Southampton, he was bought by the Duke of Westminster. Here she is now under the British flag.
A new life as a yacht
This duke is passionate about yachts and gives the ship a second life. Throughout the First World War, Belem underwent a profound transformation. Two engines were added, as were a new staircase, a smoking lounge and luxurious cabins, among others. For six years, the ship was displayed for all to see in the Mediterranean before being sold to Arthur Ernest Guinness, from the family of the founder of the Irish brewery.
The latter will rename the ship. Finished Belem, time for “Phantom II”. New work later, he began a world tour with his family and around thirty sailors between 1923 and 1924. He narrowly avoided the Kanto earthquake, in Japan, in September 1923 and sailed on almost all the waters of the world, passing through the port of Piraeus, where it leaves this Saturday. The following year, he discovered the Arctic seas but also Marseille. On board, no one imagines that he will return to the Marseille city 100 years later.
Guinness spends almost all his time on the ship, throwing parties there and parading it at the biggest events. But the Second World War arrived and the Phantom II was forced to stay for a decade in Cowes harbor, not far from Southampton. It was damaged again, this time by German bombs, before being sold in 1951.
A Venetian adventure under a new name
After hoisting the French and British flag, the ship enjoyed a long Italian adventure from 1952, when it joined Venice to become a training ship under the name “Giorgio Cini” for more than twenty years. The end of his career is promised to him, he who appears in a pitiful state in the arsenal of the city of the Doges. That was before a doctor from Grenoble, passionate about old ships, came across him by chance in 1977.
The enthusiast will have done everything to ensure that Belem returns to its country of origin, helped by several associations and the Caisses d’Épargne. For 3.5 million francs, the deal is concluded. And in August 1979, the ship left Venice one last time to return to Brest where it was welcomed in triumph. A Belem Foundation was created and the three-masted ship was restored not far from the Eiffel Tower before being classified as a historic monument in 1984.
French pride
Present in New York for the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty, objects of several exhibitions and present at festivals, the Belem travels to Quebec, Morocco or even London, where it is moored on the Thames not far from the Club France during the London Olympic Games in 2012.
128 years after its construction, it has a new encounter with its Olympic history. For 12 days, around twenty “scouts” will be on board to accompany the Olympic flame on its journey to Marseille, the next destination of Belem before continuing its immense life, the unsinkable one.
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