Via Chelsea's snap
My phone battery ended so I could not take a photo of the unbelievable collection of boats gathered:
Big boats, little boats, row boats, the incredible The Sea Sheperd, tug boats, fishing boats, sail boats, boats that I wondered how they even got there and how were they ever going to make it back, canoes, water jets, Kayaks, beautiful boats, motor boats…
"Belem was originally a cargo ship, transporting sugar from theWest Indies, cocoa, and coffee from Brazil and French Guiana to Nantes, France. By chance Belem escaped the eruption of the Mount Pelée in Saint-Pierre de la Martiniqueon 8 May 1902. All Saint Pierre roads were full of vessels, no place to anchor the ship. Captain Julien Chauvelon angrily decided to anchor some miles further on in a beach – sheltered from the exploding volcano.
Belem was sold in 1914 to Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster, who converted it to his private luxurious pleasure yacht, complete with two auxiliary Bolinder Diesel engines 300 HP each.
In 1922 Belem became the property of the beer baron Sir Arthur Ernest Guinness, who renamed it the Fantôme II (French spelling) and revised the rig from a square rigger. Hon. A.E. Guinness was Rear Commodore of the Royal St. George Yacht Club, in Kingstown, Ireland from 1921-1939. He was Vice Commodore from 1940–48. Hon. A.E. Guinness took the Fântome II on a great cruise in 1923 with his daughters Aileen, Maureen, and Oonagh. They sailed the seven seas in making a travel round the world via the Panama and Suez Canals including a visit to Spitsbergen. During its approach to Yokohama harbour while sailing the Pacific Ocean the barque managed to escape another catastrophe – an earthquake which destroyed the harbour and parts of Yokohama city. Hon. Arthur E. Guinness died in 1949. The 'Fantome' was moored in the roads of Cowes, Isle of Wight.
In 1951 "Belem" was sold to the Venezian count Vittorio Cini, who named it the Giorgio Cini after his son, who had died in a plane crash near Cannes on 31 August 1949 . It was rigged to a barkentine and used as a sail training ship until 1965, when it was considered too old for further use and was moored at the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice.
In 1972 the Italian carabinieri attempted to restore her to the original barque rig. When this proved too expensive, it became the property of the shipyard. In 1976 the ship was re-rigged to a barque.
Finally, in January 1979, it came back to its original home port as the Belem under tow by a French seagoing tug, flying the French flag after 65 years. Fully restored to its original condition, Belem began a new career as a sail training ship." via wiki
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