''France II'' was a French sailing ship, built by Chantiers et Ateliers de la Gironde and
launched in 1912. In hull length and overall size she was, after , the second largest commercial merchant sailing ship ever built. ''France II'' had the greatest cargo carrying capacity ever, to the second-highest ''
R. C. Rickmers'' at . An earlier sailing vessel named ''France'' had been built in 1890 by D. & W. Henderson & Son, Glasgow.
Design
''France II'' was an extremely large
tall ship,
square rig
Square rig is a generic type of sail and rigging arrangement in which the primary driving sails are carried on horizontal spars which are perpendicular, or square, to the keel of the vessel and to the masts. These spars are called '' yards'' ...
ged as a five-masted steel-hulled
barque
A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts having the fore- and mainmasts rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftmost mast) rigged fore and aft. Sometimes, the mizzen is only partly fore-and-aft rigged, b ...
. She was long, her displacement was , and was measured at of cargo. Her masts, yards and spanker boom were made of steel tubing; lower mast and topmast were made in one piece. She had a huge sail area of , flown on a so-called "jubilee" or "bald-headed" rig, with no royal sails above double topsails and double
topgallants. Her long yards and comparatively short masts gave her a rather wide and depressed appearance relative to other tall ships of her class.
Wood was used for her deck and furnishings. She was fitted with a beautiful lounge equipped with a piano and precious furniture, seven luxury passenger cabins, a library, a darkroom, and seawater therapy equipment.
Her "three-island" deck-line was striking, with an extremely long
poop deck
In naval architecture, a poop deck is a deck that forms the roof of a cabin built in the rear, or " aft", part of the superstructure of a ship.
The name originates from the French word for stern, ''la poupe'', from Latin ''puppis''. Thus ...
similar to sail training ships,
forecastle
The forecastle ( ; contracted as fo'c'sle or fo'c's'le) is the upper deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or, historically, the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters. Related to the latter meaning is the phrase " be ...
, and midship island, leaving only two short open upper deck sections, each containing one of her huge loading hatches.
History
''France II'' was built in 1911 at the yards of ''Chantiers et Ateliers de la Gironde'' on the banks of the
river Garonne in
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...
to the plans of chief designer Gustave Leverne (1861–1940). She was intended for the
nickel
Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow ...
ore trade and owned by the ''Société Anonyme des Navires Mixtes (Prentout-Leblond, Leroux & Cie.)''. At that time she had the largest cargo capacity of any sailing ship ever built.
The huge barque was equipped with two
Schneider diesel engine
The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...
s, which were removed in 1919. Her crew consisted of 5 officers:
captain, 2nd captain (on French ships only (
second capitaine); a naval officer of a captain's rank as a vice-captain and security officer, see
chief mate
A chief mate (C/M) or chief officer, usually also synonymous with the first mate or first officer, is a licensed mariner and head of the deck department of a merchant ship. The chief mate is customarily a watchstander and is in charge of the s ...
), 1st, 2nd, and 3rd mates and 40
able seamen
An able seaman (AB) is a Sailor, seaman and member of the deck department of a merchant ship with more than two years' experience at sea and considered "well acquainted with his duty". An AB may work as a watchstander, a day worker, or a combi ...
including cook, steward,
sailmaker
A sailmaker makes and repairs sails for sailboats, kites, hang gliders, wind art, architectural sails, or other structures using sails. A sailmaker typically works on shore in a sail loft; the sail loft has other sailmakers. Large ocean-going sa ...
,
ship's carpenter, which was increased to 45 in 1919.
In 1915 she was sold to Leroux-Henzey of
Rouen, and sold again in 1916 to the ''Compagnie Française de Marine et de Commerce'' (French Company of Marine and Trade) also of Rouen, her port of registry remained the same.
On a homeward passage in 1922 with a cargo of
chrome ore from
Pouembout,
New Caledonia, she went aground on the night of July 12, 1922 on the Teremba reef (Urai bay) northwest of the Ouano reef, nearly northwest of
Nouméa
Nouméa () is the capital and largest city of the French special collectivity of New Caledonia and is also the largest francophone city in Oceania. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main island, Grande Terre, and ...
. Because of fallen cargo rates her owner refused to pay for a
tugboat
A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, su ...
to tow her free, and she was abandoned. In 1944, American
bomber
A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped from an air ...
s bombed the wreckage for target practice.
In 1995 planning started to raise funds to design and build a replica of ''France II'', but by 2010 very little progress had been made.
Tall-ship cruise line Star Clippers launched a new ship based on ''France II'' named on 10 June 2017.
See also
*
List of tall ships
*
List of large sailing vessels
This is a list of large sailing vessels, past and present, including sailing mega yachts, tall ships, sailing cruise ships, and large sailing military ships. It is sorted by overall length.
The list, which is in the form of a table, covers vessel ...
Bibliography
* Roger et Christian Bernadat: ''"France(II), le plus grand voilier du monde, construit à Bordeaux"''. Les Editions de l'Entre-deux-Mers, Saint-Quentin-de-Baron 2008 ;
* Jochen Brennecke: Windjammer. ''Der große Bericht über die Entwicklung, Reisen und Schicksale der "Königinnen der Sieben Meere"''. Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, Herford 1984; Kap. XXII - Die Größten unter den Segelschiffen der Welt, pp 299;
* Hans-Jörg Furrer: Die Vier- und Fünfmast-Rahsegler der Welt. Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, Herford 1984, pp 93;
* Jean Randier: ''Grands voiliers français 1880-1930. Construction, gréement, manoeuvre, vie à bord''. Editions des Quatre Seigneurs, Grenoble 1974;
External links
French Ship Academy Association dedicated to the building a replica of ''France II''. Contains details of plans for a replica and also the history of ''France II''. The site is written in both English and French.
Tall ship cruise line "Star Clippers" press release regarding the build and launch of new ship based on the "France II".
{{DEFAULTSORT:France Ii
Individual sailing vessels
Five-masted ships
1912 ships
Lost sailing vessels
Windjammers