The day the “Belem” almost sank in the port of Bourg-sur-Gironde

The only witness to the sailing merchant navy, the training ship “Belem”, launched at the Chantiers Dubigeon in Nantes, welcomes several hundred trainees each year who come to familiarize themselves with old-fashioned navigation. Owned by a foundation created by the Union of Savings Banks which restored it, the building offers enthusiasts an introduction to the high seas at the helm and mast.

Exercise is not always safe. It happens that the sixteen members of the professional crew responsible for supervising the cabin crew on deck are caught off guard. This was the case on Saturday October 13, 2001, in the Gironde estuary.

That day, the sailboat discovered in Bordeaux during the Cutty Sark of 1990, returned, but it was in Bourg-sur-Gironde that it stopped. The last three-masted French mast from the 19th century must be the highlight of the attractions of Déco Bourg, the great decoration fair. A reception with great pomp is planned for his arrival, in the afternoon: 30 extras representing the court of King Louis XIV, whose destiny was linked to Bourg in 1650, await him on the quay, with the crowd of visitors. A performance, “the King, the Monk, and the Fig Tree”, will then be given at the Citadel and a new treat, “the Bourg Fig”, will be launched for the occasion. The pirate night which will close this evening will take place at the port, in the Brouette site.

The great scare of the “Belem” in the port of Bourg

But there you go. The celebration will be spoiled by an extremely rare accident which marked local memory. Maryvonne Hargous, a former correspondent for “Press à l’Ecole” who worked for a long time with “Sud Ouest”, still remembers it, more than twenty years later.

Crossing the current, it risked being smashed in two on the wreck of the “Glysia II”, the Italian oil tanker sunk in 1944 off Bourg by the Germans.

In the evening, while the tide is falling, the training ship, which was believed to be securely moored on the banks of the river, surreptitiously regains its freedom and sets out in the way. The dead body specially placed by the lighthouse and beacon team did not resist and slipped, leaving the boat drifting towards the pontoon where other buildings were moored, including the “Kriter VI”, another vessel belonging to to the sailing heritage. And the “Belem” hit him violently. Despite its aluminum hull, the 16.50 m monohull, on which Olivier de Kersauzon had raced the Transat double-handed, suffered from the impact.

“Two tugs from Bordeaux, urgently, during the night, tried to pull the “Belem” out of this very bad situation,” says Maryvonne Hargous. “Across the current, it risked being smashed in two on the wreck of the “Glysia II”, the Italian oil tanker sunk in 1944 off Bourg by the Germans. The deck of the sailboat being made of wood, the towing ropes tore off its mooring cleats… It was necessary to abandon the operation and wait for the next tide to escape this delicate situation. »

A dive into the archives of “Sud Ouest” confirms that it was only with the rising tide that the ship could be pulled out of the situation. The three-masted ship, reports the newspaper in its October 14 edition, was finally able to take shelter in Blaye on Sunday, specifying that part of the festivities planned the day before had to be canceled. The same day, Maryvonne Hargous also remembers it, “France 3 Aquitaine” devoted a subject of its news to this story which could have gone very badly. A France 3 team was dispatched to the site at midnight for its report.

Whose fault is it?

The Belem Foundation and its insurer maintained for years that the accident was not their fault. Wrongly if we are to believe the judgment rendered on August 4, 2008 by the administrative court of Bordeaux after several years of proceedings. The judges considered that there was no reason to order the commune of Bourg-sur Gironde, the Autonomous Port of Bordeaux and the State to pay the 100,000 euros in damages claimed by the owners of the ship. They concluded that “the drift of the ship was solely caused by its poor positioning, while it was in a site subject to significant currents”, explains “Sud Ouest”, August 5, 2008.