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XVIII cent. Fluyts of the French East India Company (with plans)


LeBoiteux

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The French East India Company (1664-1794)

 

Between 1720 and 1770, the Company gained a great prosperity and built more than 300 ships, a third of them being two-deck ships from 600 to 1500 ton. Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_East_India_Company

large.jpgLa Paix, 1764 : http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/66472.html

 

 

 

Le Boullongne

600-ton French fluyt, 1759

20 guns (6-pdrs)

 

bou01.jpg

 

bou07.jpg

Source : http://gerard.delacroix.pagesperso-orange.fr/boullon/bou_2.htm

 

Built in Lorient by G. Cambry on behalf of the French East India Company.

Design (especially the interior) is a bit different from ships built by and for the French Royal Navy, such as Le Gros Ventre, to serve as a freight transport ship. 

Named after Jean de Boullongne, French magistrate and politician.

Captured by the British in 1762.

 

Length (gundeck) : 126'

Breadth : 30'

Depth in hold : 11'8"

 

Monograph and plans : 

http://ancre.fr/en/monographies-en/63-monographie-du-boullongne-v-cie-des-indes-1759.html?search_query=boullongne&results=2

 

Shipmodels :

http://gerard.delacroix.pagesperso-orange.fr/boullon/bou_index.htm

http://www.amarsenal.be/05_MM_19_SDB01.htm

http://enguerrand.gourong.free.fr/oceanindien/p19oceanindien.htm

 

Source :

http://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=16503

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Le Saint Géran

600-ton French fluyt, 1736

28 guns

 

600_600______intro_zoom_37.jpg

Source : http://www.first-fleet-reproductions.com/client/cache/produit/600_600______intro_zoom_37.jpg

 

29 m x 9,60 m x 21m

 

Another fluyt built in Lorient by the French East India Company.

 

The shipwreck of Le Saint Guéran off the coast of Mauritius inspired J.-H. Bernardin de Saint-Pierre to write the famous novel Paul and Virginia (1788) in which the heroine’s fate ends in drowning during the sinking of the ship off the coast of Mauritius while returning home to the island https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_et_Virginie 

 

Shipmodels (no plan) certainly based on the plan of Le Boullongne (see above):

http://www.first-fleet-reproductions.com/6-historic-saint-geran.html

http://www.bobatoshipmodels.com/en/stgeran.php

http://www.la-timonerie-antiquites.com/fr/antique/801/superbe-maquette-artisanale-du-voilier-saint-geran-cie-des-indes

 

Source :

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Géran

 

Thx to Sella22 for this find !!

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Le Massiac

900 to 950-ton French fluyt, 1759

24 guns (8 and 12-pdr) : 6 on the lower deck, 18 on the upper deck

maq_massiac_proue.jpg

 

Built by Antoine Groignard on behalf of the French East India Company.

Named after Claude de Massiac, Secretary of State to the Royal Navy.

General characteristics :

  • Length : 140 ft
  • Beam : 35 ft
  • Draught : 18 - 19 ft
  • Crew : 159 - 199 

Plans available :

  • in the Archives of the French Navy : D1 65, n° 9, cl. 92383.
  • in Boudriot, Le Bonhomme Richard, p. 18-19 

Comparison with Le Duc de Duras

Both have the same burden (900 ton), are designed by A. Groignard and are, to within 4 inches (11 cm), of the same length.

Sources :

http://www.histoire-genealogie.com/spip.php?article387

Edited by LeBoiteux
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Le Duc de Duras

(future Bonhomme Richard)

900-ton French fluyt, 1765

26 to 52 guns

DdD_AW010.jpg

Source : http://www.amarsenal.be/Images_05%20MM%2023_AW_DdD/DdD_AW010.jpg

 

Two trading voyages to China before Company dissolution in 1770.

Repurchased by Louis XVI, transferred to the early Navy of the USA and renamed Bonhomme Richard.

She then won fame during the American Revolutionary War. 

 

Characteristics :

145 x 36 x 15 ft

Crew : 160

 

Armament :

as Le Duc de Duras :

in peace time : 20 x 8-pdr

in war time : 26 x 12-pdr + 26 x 8-pdr

as Le Bonhomme Richard : 44 guns

 

Sources, plans and shipmodels : 

http://ancre.fr/en/monographies-en/54-monographie-du-bonhomme-richard-1779.html?search_query=bonhomme&results=3

http://www.amarsenal.be/05_MM_23_AW_DdD01.htm

 

Four plans of 54-58 gun Fluyts of the French East India Company

One signed by Coulomb, the others by Groignard in Lorient in 1755.

(all available in the Archives of the French Navy) 

1) D1 66, n° 3, cl. 33784

2) D1 66, n° 4, cl. 92130

3) D1 66, n° 5, cl. 33783

4) D1 66, n° 6, cl. 92389

Edited by LeBoiteux
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@ Malachi : Great contribution. I guess this is :

 

Le Chameau (1758-1766)

Fluyt, 750 ton, 12-26 guns

Crew : 65-123

Built in Lorient

Destinations : Mascarene Islands, India, China, La Coruña.

 

Sources :

Estienne 1986, 2114, 2126, 2134 ; Demerliac XV n° 1903

Archives of the French East India Company

 

or is it :

 

Le Chameau (1716-1725)

Fluyt,, 400 ton

Built in Holland in 1716

Shipwrecked in 1725.

10-20 guns

Crew : 59-65

Destinations : Guinea, Louisiana, Senegal, Santo Domingo

 

Sources :

Estienne 113, 176 ; Dermerliac XV n° 1981

Archives of the French East India Company

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Le Chameau (1758-1766)

Fluyt, 750 ton, 12-26 guns

Crew : 65-123

Built in Lorient

Destinations : Mascarene Islands, India, China, La Coruña.

 

 

 

Sounds about right :)

 

But I think I got the wrong drawing for the stern decorations, judging by the style of the decorations the right part could be for Le Chameau of 1744 (sheer and body plan can be found in the ANM), the left part for Le Chameau of 1718.

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@ Malachi, about Le Maure : Are you sure that that Maure built in 1765 belonged to the French East India Company ?

 

The only Maure in the Archive of the Company is a 300-ton vessel (1712-1730).

Moreover, I think (but I'm not sure) that all the ships built by the Company was made at Lorient, not at Toulon. 

 

Source :

Estienne 71, 263 ; Dermeliac XV n° 1962

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Hm, not all ships were built at Lorient, e.g. La Fidèle was launched at Nantes and made two trips to india as an 'official' EIC escort ship. Maybe they were bought by/transferred to the EIC after their launch?

 

tiRXRNY.jpg

 

 

 

Has this to do with the French East India Company's ones ?

 

 

The body plans look very similiar, so maybe they reused Ollivier´s design for a ship of the EIC?

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Hm, not all ships were built at Lorient, e.g. La Fidèle was launched at Nantes and made two trips to india as an 'official' EIC escort ship. Maybe they were bought by/transferred to the EIC after their launch?

 

La Fidèle (1757) is indeed a 400-ton 20-gun frigate launched at Nantes and owned by the Company from apparently her sailing from Nantes to Lorient. But she shows up in the Archives of the Company unlike Le Maure (1765). Could those Archives be incomplete ?

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L'Embuscade.

Schooner of harbor 1777.

From Rochefort.

#edit by Surcouf#

Fluyt of 600 to 700 tx ~ 1760/80.

From Rochefort.

#edit by Surcouf#

L'Outarde.

Fluyt of 700 tx 1754.

From Rochefort.

#edit by Surcouf#

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  • 3 months later...
Pictures I took in the French East India company , in Lorient, Sorry I wrote in french the description ( it is late, I was confused, will edit the post tomorrow) 

 I wrote the name and dates of each ships on a notebook when I was there a few years ago .... but My apartment is a mess, cannot find it anymore, sorry for the few intels around the photographs... , someof them , launch date dates might be wrong, but not by much 


Navire de 600 tonneaux, pondicherry 1740-1760
 

P1010887

P1010885


 
le Massiac 1759 : 

P1010893

P1010871



Flute la Cloche, 1685, 2 voyages aux indes, capturée au Cap lors du second retour avec le déclenchement de la guerre de la Ligue de Aubsbourg 

P1010879

P1010877

P1010875

P1010874

Le Comte de Provence ou Comte d'Artois, je ne me souviens plus / 60 canons en temps de guerre / 1757

 

P1010880

P1010884

P1010883



Vues internes du comte d'Artois : 

P1010870

P1010868

P1010867

P1010866



 

Navire de la compagnie 1719

 

P1010890

P1010889

P1010892



Sloop 18ème 

P1010861



Pondichery avant la guerre de 7 ans : 

P1010862

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The first ship is a le Boullogne to 600tx.

The name was not quoted, it seem this type of 600 TX ship was very generic, I remember another model made according to an archeological site, in an annexe of the museum, another ship, but it looked almost exactly the same.

But yes, looking like the boullongne!

Edited by Sire Trinkof
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  • 7 months later...
  • 1 year later...

Just a little note about the new website of the 'Museum of the French India Company' at Lorient, Brittany (France) about all the French trading Companies of the 17-18th centuries in America, India, Far East... Exhibitions of period nautical charts, ship models, drawings, furniture, China porcelain...

Website (in French) here

Some of the ship models discussed above are shown in this museum (Le Massiac, Le Comte d'Artois...).

The new website of this museum with a dot bzh (for Brittany and not .fr anymore !) explains some of the dead links of this thread.

 

P1RzIsf.jpg

Edited by LeBoiteux
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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

I updated the post above about Le Massiac, adding that her plan can be found in Boudriot, Le Bonhomme Richard, p. 18-19, as those two ships share the same builder (Antoine Groignard), the  same burden (900 ton) and almost the same length.

NB : the plan of Le Bertin (1760, 1200 tons burden 28 guns, crew = 239), also designed by Groignard and used by the French East India Company, can be found at the same pages of Boudriot's book, also at the Greenwich Museum and on NA forum : here. Le Bertin did a voyage to India and the Mascarene Islands and was captured by the British. 

Edited by LeBoiteux
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  • 2 weeks later...

I want something like this @admin

I will rule the economy with one of that trader vessels while I'm maybe making another thing in my desk, with even more hold (weight) than an indiaman and being able to fight -almost- a Bellona, thanks to a beautiful but gunned ship like this.

Not all is PvP ships!! There are a lot if trader players!! 

Edited by SirAlatriste
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