Everything ends up returning to its home port and it is quite natural that the famous Emperor's canoe, this floating masterpiece, two centuries old, returned to Brest. He had to go into exile during the Second World War, to escape the bombings that had hit the city since 1941 and which intensified in 1942 and 1943, causing significant destruction. Following the very Brest expression, this reappearance caused a commotion in the landerneau (1): the canoe has finally returned home! Of course, some criticized the fact that what made the Chaillot Palace so charming was sent to the ends of the earth, highlighting the obvious lack of international media coverage of Brest. The challenge is taken up by the Bretons. To mark the return of what is one of the most elegant and one of the largest objects presented in a French museum, it is interesting to retrace its adventures.
The story begins at the beginning of 1810. The Emperor, then at the height of his glory, wished to visit the Antwerp arsenal (2), the construction of which he had ordered a few years earlier. He wants to see first-hand the progress of the important works which will make the port “a gun aimed at the heart of England”.
Visiting Antwerp
A significant part of this visit takes place on the water and, for this occasion, there is no question of letting the Emperor embark in a common boat, however beautiful it may be! Also, the Minister of the Navy, Admiral Decrès, ordered with the greatest discretion to the maritime prefect of Antwerp, Pierre-Clément Laussat, the project of starting construction of a ceremonial launch, worthy of carrying the imperial passenger. On March 29, 1810, Laussat reported to his supervisory minister on the construction of two canoes: “The Grand Canot, as Your Excellency desires, will be built. It will have a room enclosed in glazing. A second smaller one, also decorated, will have its room closed by curtains and curtains. The plans will be submitted shortly to Mr. Sané. He will not be lost for a moment. »
To save time, the engineer-builder Guillemard took inspiration from the plans of the Swedish admiral Frédéric Henri de Chapman, author in 1768 of Architectura navalis mercatoria, a veritable bible for maritime engineers of the 18th century. Chapman worked on plans for a ceremonial canoe sufficiently advanced to begin its construction in the year 1810.
Jacques-Noël Sané, then general inspector of maritime engineering, quickly validated the plans presented to him by Guillemard. Immediately, its construction was entrusted to the master carpenter Le Théau, a Norman from Granville, while the development of the decorative elements was entrusted to the Antwerp sculptor Van Petersen. In just twenty-one days, what was then called the Grand Canoe was ready. With an original length of 17.21 m, width of 3.25 m, and depth of 97 cm, it has on its rear third a very beautiful glazed roof (3) of 15 m2 in the shape of a coach body, intended to accommodate VIPs, leaving the other two thirds available for the fourteen swimming benches intended for rowers.
The ornamentation of the canoe is then very different and much more sober from that which we know today. Unfortunately, there is no precise description of them, especially since the plans do not include them. We only know, according to the painting by the Flemish painter Mathieu Van Brée (4), that it is white, with golden sculptures at the level of the cabin. It then supports neither a figurehead nor a monumental crown on the roof. However, we must be cautious about Van Brée's pictorial representation, because it seems that he took liberties with reality: thus, he only depicted three windows out of the five, on the starboard side of the cabin.
Arriving in Antwerp, the imperial couple “[…] immediately embarked on the large and marvelous canoe, richly decorated, which Decrès, always a good courtier, had ordered to be built on purpose in Antwerp […]. » (5) It is true that, on April 30, 1810, the luxurious rowboat, launched by twenty-eight rowers, two per swimming bench (6), all sailors from the Guard, made a remarkable entry into the port. On board, the Emperor and the young Empress Marie-Louise are accompanied by Marshal Berthier, Admiral-Minister Decrès, and Admiral Édouard Thomas de Burgues, Count of Missiessy, who commands the Scheldt squadron. A multitude of boats follow them. The next day, Marie-Louise noted in her diary: “We were taken to a pretty little gondola on which we embarked to descend the Rupel. » A witness, for his part, not very sensitive to the beauty of the boat, noted that a “large number of richly and elegantly decorated canoes were arranged and ready to leave. Their Majesties embarked in the one intended for them. […] The procession was immediately set off, heading towards the flagship Charlemagne. When the Emperor's boat was seen by the vessels in the Rupel, they all flew their flags, saluted with their artillery, and the crews with their cries of Long live the Emperor. »
The next day, May 1, the imperial launch ensures the transportation of the Emperor, as he goes up the Scheldt. Then, still on board, Napoleon inspected the entire squadron on May 2 and notably witnessed the launch of the Friedland, a famous 80-gun ship.
After the Empire
In 1814, following the abdication of Napoleon, France definitively lost Antwerp, which was attached to the new kingdom of Holland. If most of the ships built there by the French were granted to the Dutch navy, this is not the case for the boat, which is assigned to the Brest arsenal. A bourgeoisie from Antwerp, Jenny Cooppal, alluded to it in a letter she sent to her sister on July 27, 1814: “Yesterday we visited the shipyards. I was seated in Napoleon's place in an imperial rowboat. Louis XVIII has requisitioned it and, it seems, it will be loaded by the first boat which will sail towards Brest. »
We can assume that in the year 1814, Louis XVIII following the enemy's vans, had the opportunity to visit Antwerp, near Ghent where he stayed. When he sees the canoe, he finds it so majestic that he decides to bring it back to France, to Brest. But between decision-making and execution, events often slow down action. We do not know the date of the arrival of the canoe on the banks of the Penfeld (7): let us trust the Brest tradition which indicates the presence of the royal canoe of Brest in 1819. We know that it was then moderately decorated and that it underwent some transformations, of which we unfortunately have no details, except that in 1833 the figurehead had become an eagle with outstretched wings. Then, suffering from competition from the so-called Prince de Joinville canoe, which served as a transport star for passing personalities, the Royal Canoe of Brest was somewhat forgotten until the Second Empire. The port of Brest then had 7 ceremonial boats and 461 service boats, the Emperor's boat being too remarkable to be used to transport sailors or equipment.
The arrival of the imperial couple in Brest
It was then that Napoleon III, in 1858, announced his decision to come on an official visit to Brest. Immediately, it's all up in arms and what could be better than using your uncle's canoe, repainted and re-gilded for the occasion? What is now nothing more than an old, shabby boat is handed over to the naval sculpture workshops, then located at the foot of the Capucins plateau (8), directed by the Brest sculptor Yves Collet (1761-1843). And there, the boat will be given an extraordinary shine. From the skillful hands of craftsmen, the ornamentation that we know today will be born, notably the figurehead representing Neptune armed with his trident, riding a dolphin and framed by two winged cherubs with triton tails; on the transom, around a central escutcheon representing an imperial eagle, a wide ribbon is carved allowing a cross of the Legion of Honor to hang. A small crown surmounts the pediment, supported by seated statues of Minerva armed with a spear and of Fame blowing a trumpet.
On the roof, we placed an oversized crown supported by four plump cherubs. All along the flat sides, to starboard and to port, fine-colored sculptures of laurel and olive leaves are applied. Even the twenty-four oars, carved from chestnut, are richly painted with a golden fish or a crustacean, different on each of the rowing shovels.
On the bulwark, on either side of the roof, large escutcheons framed by two cherubs and bearing in their middle the intertwining letters LN for Louis-Napoleon were attached. On August 9, 1858, Emperor Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie arrived from Cherbourg aboard the ship Bretagne. At 2 p.m., the sovereigns left the vessel anchored at the opening of the Brest Narrows and took their place aboard the resplendent boat. Towed by the steamer Elorn, also superbly decorated for the occasion, they headed towards the entrance to the port. Arriving in the harbor, the steamer lets go of its trailer, and the boat, whose helm is held by Captain Malmanche, rows up towards the Penfeld, to disembark at the main stairs set up opposite the hold of the General Store (9). There, the authorities and the established bodies await them, as well as the soldiers of the 2nd Marine Infantry Regiment. The next day, the imperial couple reboarded the canoe to go to the bottom of the Penfeld, near the Arsenal, to visit the Villeneuve forges. At their side, proudly stands the mayor of Brest, Mr. Hyacinthe-Martin Bizet (10).
On the third day of their visit, the sovereigns returned to board the boat and, in very good weather (11), inspected the Thétis and the Borda in the harbor. Then, on August 4, Napoleon III and Eugénie took their seats in their sedan to reach Quimper, while the imperial launch returned to its shed on Factice Island, upstream of the Penfeld, for a very long intermission.
During the time of the Republic
The Emperor's canoe was still used under the Third Republic, notably on the occasion of two presidential visits to Brest. The first was that of President Félix Faure in 1896. For the occasion, the Republic found the ornaments too imperial, the roof and many of the decorations were removed. Then followed new years of oblivion, until 1902, during the visit of President Émile Loubet. This time we leave the roof in place, but we still remove the immense crown that hangs over it: this hardly befits a Republican head of state. The newspaper Le Yacht, of May 17, reported that on the afternoon of May 14, the president aboard “his magnificent canoe towed by a steam launch” reviewed the squadron before boarding the cruiser. battleship Montcalm bound for Russia. For the canoe, it’s once again the return to exile in its hangar for many years.
On November 18, 1922, the Emperor's canoe finally returned to the waters of the Penfeld to participate in the Triumph ceremony of the Naval Academy. It was then an opportunity to highlight French maritime history, by evoking the navy of 1680, 1720, 1774, 1805, and 1820. But the next day, during the naval parade, the one that attracts all eyes and Its flagship, adorned with all its ornaments, is the Emperor's canoe.
It is on board that the maritime prefect, Vice-Admiral Louis Ernest Fatou (12) receives the Minister of the Navy, Baron Flaminius Raiberti (13). A true historical reconstruction, the navy has camouflaged some of its ships in the old-fashioned way, with painted canvases covering the hulls of the ships to evoke the navy of yesteryear. The sailors dressed in old uniforms, modeled on sketches by the painter Charles Fouqueray (1869-1956), have a great effect. Dressed in period costumes, and wearing wigs, the young students of the Naval Academy play the role of their great elders. We can admire the ships of yesteryear: the Conqueror, the Dauphine, the Provençal, the Droits de l'Homme, the Sylphide, the Crimea, the Volta, and of course the Imperial Canoe.
When the party is over, the boat is stored at the bottom of the arsenal, in Kervallon, where the equipment and old boats often destined for destruction are stored in large hangars.
Exposed to the public
But the boat, like a phoenix, bides its time. To bring it out of its oblivion, it was presented, in May and June 1928, to the Brest public during the Commerce and Industry exhibition held on the Place du Château. Exhibited at Place Joffre (14), it was such a success that Mr. Georges Thiébaut, president of the Tourist Office, had the idea of showcasing it and finding a space where it would be easily accessible to the public. The Minister of the Navy was distracted for almost two years before giving in. And it is a cry of relief in Brest when we can read in the Brest Dispatch of January 13, 1930: “A shelter will be built between the National Bridge and the Porte Tourville. The work which will begin shortly will last two or three months. The Syndicate of Initiatives contributes 15,000 francs to the expense or approximately half. It’s a big sacrifice, but next summer the tourists who come to the Tourville gate to visit the Arsenal will all go to see the Emperor’s Canoe. » The following April 11, in the morning, the canoe definitively left its old shelter to join its new museum shed on the left bank of the Penfeld, at the foot of the Grand bridge, near the Porte de Tourville: “Yesterday morning, The Emperor's Canoe has left forever its old cabin on Factice Island where it had rested for so many years. At 3 p.m., the canoe and its cart were lifted by the large crane and placed on the quay, the left bank where a large automobile tractor would pick it up. This curious and short caravan had stopped on the Grand Pont and the Boulevard Thiers a line of curious people who were able to contemplate for a few moments the Emperor's boat suspended between sky and earth. Today, she rests under a shelter worthy of her. Very close to the Tourville gate, from now on everyone will be able to come and admire this little wonder which constitutes one of the most notable attractions of our poor city. » (15)
The Navy permanently opens to the public the new hangar, built by Travaux Maritimes near the Gueydon bridge on the left bank, but refuses to authorize the collection of a fee for this visit, thus placing the Tourist Office in a rather embarrassing financial situation. But it is a real success and thousands of visitors can freely admire the Emperor's canoe, finally presented in a way worthy of him. During visits by French or foreign personalities, the canoe, which has gone from being a useful object to becoming a heritage item, is one of the obligatory passages.
During the war
In 1940, it was thought to be sheltered in a hangar, deep within the arsenal. But the following year, to protect it from aerial bombardments, it was exiled even further to the bottom of Penfeld, on Factice Island (16).
In 1943, faced with the intensification of English bombings, it was decided to send the boat temporarily to Paris. The newly created Maritime Museum at the Palais de Chaillot has space capable of accommodating this imposing monument. The German authorities appear to have been behind this transfer. Somewhere, a senior Reich official understood the importance of protecting this sumptuous imperial symbol. On May 9, the boat was evacuated with enormous difficulty, first by barge, then by train to Paris. The journey to the capital will prove to be very delicate. It lasts eight days during which the entire rail journey from Brest to Vaugirard is interrupted in sections, in both directions, because it is impossible for the convoy to pass other trains. The occupier's interest in this boat is extraordinary because even though construction of the submarine base which is to house the U-boats (17) continues, deliveries of materials by rail are underway. vital, the German authorities agreed to neutralize the rail to ensure the transfer of the canoe to Vaugirard. From May 9 to 18, 1943, the convoy passed through Landerneau, Quimper, Redon, Nantes, Segré, Le Mans, Chartres, Trappes, Versailles, and finally Vaugirard.
Well wedged on the platform of a truck, it is still under German military escort that the boat arrives at Place du Trocadéro. But there, we realize that it is impossible to bring the canoe inside the Chaillot palace. The doors are too narrow. The museum, in the midst of installation work, simply did not consider this detail. The precious skiff had to be stored in the Trocadéro gardens, under a makeshift shelter, intended to protect it from the effects of the weather. It took nearly two years of reflection to decide, in August 1945, to open an enormous breach in the wall of the Palais de Chaillot. Introduced into the museum thanks to a cart specially designed for its movement, the canoe can finally be exhibited there. It will be the most beautiful ornament of the Maritime Museum. For Brest, she definitively loses one of her most beautiful ornaments and Paris will never return her treasure...
The renovation
From 2001 to 2003, the aging canoe was restored. This restoration is carried out by carpenters from the military workshop of the fleet in Cherbourg (cradles and internal structures of the hull) and by a group of restorers (sculptures, polychromy, and gilding), with the financial support of the Fondation Napoléon.
It was long thought that the boat would stay permanently in Paris. But on March 31, 2017, the National Maritime Museum closed its doors for a complete renovation. The ambitious project plans to recreate the Maritime Museum to make it the largest museum of French maritime history. The next opening is only scheduled for 2022. If the Emperor's canoe is the flagship of the museum, it is also an extraordinary burden. What are we going to do with it? A solution is necessary and we are considering bringing him back to Brest, his home port. It is the return of the prodigal son: the heart of Brest leaps at this news.
Removal operations are prepared militarily. From the spring of 2018, the twenty-two oars and the trident of the figurehead were stored in Dugny. In September, the block of the summit crown was removed, as well as the four cherubs supporting it and the four antique helmets. Then we install the canoe in a rigid box to guarantee its safety. The mechanically welded body, 19.50 m long, 4.20 m wide, and 3.75 m high, was manufactured on-site. Its metal structure is protected by a layer of polyane and a plywood bell. We don't want to take any risks.
Then, an opening 6.90 m wide and 4.75 m high must be made in the walls of the Palais de Chaillot in order to evacuate the box and its contents. The whole thing, weighing almost 20 tonnes, is placed on a semi-trailer platform using a mobile crane. Parisians will remember seeing the exit of the Emperor's canoe on Sunday, October 14, 2018. In fact, they only saw a huge container on wheels, surrounded by a black plastic tarpaulin, bearing the brand of the Bovis company and bearing the image of Pegasus, the winged horse of mythology, enclosing the precious cargo.
The same day, the convoy left the Place du Trocadéro at 9:53 p.m., framed like a VIP on an official trip, with a car in the vanguard and a following car. The distance from Paris to Brest is covered at a maximum speed of 80 km. The convoy will make a first stop in Yvelines, a second in Rennes, a third in Guipavas, and will stop definitively at Les Capucins in Brest on October 25. Extraction operations, requiring crane operation, are very complex. Nothing then equals the happiness of the people of Brest who find their heritage pearl, confiscated for so long.
The Plateau and the former Capuchin workshops, a former military holding returned to the city by the Navy in 2011 (18), will be the new home of the canoe. In addition to a new district of the city, an authentic cultural and commercial center has been created there. From the top of the plateau, a veritable terrace overlooking the harbor of Brest, the visitor's eye takes in a south-facing view of the city, its ramparts, its castle, and its Maritime Museum.
On January 22, the emperor's canoe, now Brest's flagship work, emerged from its protective casing, shining under the light of its adopted city. But it still took time to move it and install it on its final cradles by the curators of the Brest Marine Museum and the workers of the Bovis group.
Then the restoration operations will begin, which will be accessible to the public. It was planned that they would be finished for the Brest International Maritime Festival (July 10-16, 2020). But here it is: Coronavirus COVID-19 has turned everything upside down; France was confined, and the canoe was also confined. Brest is only waiting for the moment when it can invite the whole of France to come and admire the imperial canoe, sumptuously presented, finally returned home.
Everything was wonderfully planned. Numerous so-called “dynamic” museography devices will allow visitors to understand the origins and history of the canoe. Looking up at the ceiling, the public, through a set of skillfully placed mirrors, will be able to admire the oak hull and will receive a complete image of the interior of the so imperial boat.
The city of Antwerp, for its part, has not forgotten the Emperor's canoe, since it proudly exhibits at the Navigation Museum a splendid model measuring 4.60 m long and 90 cm wide. All decorations are faithfully reproduced, making it a true work of art.
(1) Landerneau is a town near Brest.
(2) Antwerp has been a French city since 1794. It was then the capital of the Deux-Nethes department.
(3) Can also be spelled “roof”. We also say “carriage” to designate any carpentry construction on the rear deck of a ship, intended to accommodate passengers.
(4) Born in Antwerp, he was then director of Fine Arts in his hometown.
(5) Auguste Thomazi, Napoleon and his sailors, Berger-Levrault, 1950, pp. 205-210.
(6) Swimming is then called “couple”.
(7) Coastal river 12 km long, on the left bank of which the city of Brest, in Finistère, developed.
(8) A machine workshop was built there from 1841 to 1845 on the site of the former Capuchin convent.
(9) Current Quai de la Majorité.
(10) Born in 1804, died in 1867, a merchant, judge at the commercial court, and mayor of Brest from 1848 to 1865, he is the great-great-grandfather of Nicolas Hulot.
(11) This happens more often than you think.
(12) Born in Lorient in 1867, died in Dinard in 1957.
(13) Born in 1862, and died in 1929, he was Minister of War from December 16, 1920, to January 16, 1921, and Minister of the Navy from January 15, 1922, to March 29, 1924.
(14) Current corner of rue Pierre-Brossolette and cours Dajot.
(15) Ouest-Éclair, April 12, 1930.
(16) The name still exists today. Huge sheds were built there in 1805 for storing wood.
(17) Abbreviation of Unterseeboot (“submarine”).
(18) The whole area extends over 12 ha in the heart of the Brest metropolis.
The drama of Count de Kersaint
A little-known anecdote probably due to an urban legend, seems to have happened during the visit to Antwerp. The director of military movements at the port, Captain Guy Pierre de Coëtnempren, Count of Kersaint (A), was appointed at the last minute to direct the boat maneuver. But the poor officer from Brest, sick, cannot contain the overflow of his intestines and, completely desperate, throws himself into the water to escape the shame of having thus forgotten himself before his sovereign. The unfortunate man was rescued and the Emperor, moved by such despair, asked to see him. To console him, he gave him an endowment of 4,000 francs. Furthermore, this unfortunate incident did not hinder his career as a sailor because, on March 9, 1812, he became maritime prefect of Antwerp, the very place where his setbacks caused him such misfortune.
(A) 1747-1822. Rear admiral in 1814, he retired in 1817 and died in Suresnes (Haut-de-Seine) where he was buried in the old cemetery.
The 1922 reconstruction
“And here is the most beautiful building in this picturesque and glorious procession. This one is not camouflaged. It is the authentic canoe of the emperor built-in 1811 (A) and which we believe was only used twice: for Napoleon I, during his visit to the mouths of the Scheldt, and for Napoleon III and the empress, when they entered the port of Brest, in August 1858. In the magnificent deckhouse, surmounted by a vast imperial crown, supported by four cupids, stand Admiral Bruix (ensign Orange) and an officer aide-de-camp of the sailors of the Guard (Ensign Berriet). At the front, so harmoniously decorated with a Neptune and two golden tritons, two midshipmen of the imperial navy (midshipmen of Lasborde and Hermann). At the stern, near the gunwale, decorated with garlands of intertwined myrtle laurels, stood at attention, two students from the floating school created by Napoleon in 1807 (midshipmen from Breneuf and Terlier), wearing the blue cloth coat and breeches, the black hat, gilded with a gold braid. The Emperor's boat sails with the oars, under the vigorous leadership of Magellan's 28 apprentice sailors (B), dressed in the uniform of the sailors of the Empire, wearing boiled leather hats and sabers. shoulder boarding. They have never rowed on such beautiful oars: with each of their movements, a golden fish, painted on the shovel, seems to emerge from the waves” (La Dépêche de Brest et de l’Ouest).
(A) The journalist is wrong: it should read 1810.
(B) There were only twenty-four of them.
The main stages of the 2019 transfer operation
January 22: opening of the formwork;
January 23: moving the canoe;
January 27 to January 31: dismantling of the metal structure;
February 5: lifting of the boat and installation on the base;
February 11 to February 13: adjustment of cradles with the Britton company;
February 14 to February 18: chassis dismantling;
February 19: transfer of sculpture boxes.
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