Bretagne – Au Revoir

The French bounty ship Bretagne in Storm Bay, with Tasman Island on her port hand, heads off in 1923 towards Astoria on the American North West coast for a grain cargo. A typical Tasmanian ketch crosses her bow in what many would say was a risky manoeuvre. However, the barque is still sheeting home her foresail and her speed would not be more that 2 or 3 knots. The mainsail is still ‘up in its gear’ so that it will not obscure the way ahead until the barque is well out to sea.

The French Government paid a ‘bounty’ to sailing ship owners to secure a continuing supply of sail trained seamen. It was paid on net tonnage and on the number of sea miles travelled. Large deposits of nickel ore in New Caledonia brought hundreds of French ships through the ‘Roaring Forties’ of the Southern Ocean and instead of heading up the shorter route through the Indian Ocean the ships sailed around Tasmania, thereby adding miles to the journey and earning extra Bounty.They often called at Hobart to replenish stores or to see if their orders had been changed. Even if their charter was to load nitrate on the west coast of South America, the west winds of the Southern Ocean route gave them a good passage time and justified the extra miles sailed.

Bretagne made many voyages via Hobart on her way to New Caledonia, the Pacific North West coast of America and Newcastle, New South Wales for coal. Bretagne was built in 1901 and was broken up in 1926.

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