History of an unusual vessel…

« La Boudeuse » is a three-masted schooner build almost a hundred years ago in Holland. Initially used as a commercial vessel in the Baltic and North seas, it became a Swedish training ship shortly after the Second World War. In 2003, it was reregistered under the French flag when it was bought by Patrice Franceschi, who then spent an entire year transforming it into an adventure and exploration ship in a shipyard in Brittany.

Measuring 46 metres in length with a displacement of 250 tonnes, La Boudeuse is rigged as a traditional three masted vessel, carrying 13 sails with a total surface area of 700 m², including a foresail, staying topsail and flying topsail on the mizzen mast. The ship has 4,500 metres of rope for the running rigging, 200 wooden pulleys, 100 toggles, and 1,500 metres of stainless steel standing rigging. All manoeuvres are done manually as in the old days. The entire crew is made up of 24 men and women who together bring the necessary skills for sailing such a vessel: captain, first officer, 1st, 2nd and 3rd lieutenants, quartermaster, chief engineer, deputy engineer, steward, administrator, doctor, riggers, helmsmen and sailors.

« La Boudeuse »La Boudeuse is one of the rare French three-masted schooners still in use and the only one to sail on long journeys on all the seas around the world. It is dedicated to the pursuit of discovery, adventure and science, in the spirit of the great maritime and land expeditions of the Age of Enlightenment. For this reason, a certain number of writers, philosophers, painters and photographers form an integral part of the crew.

The captain of « La Boudeuse » and the project initiator is Patrice Franceschi, sailor, writer, explorer, member of the French Society of the Philosophy of Science and Honorary President of the Society of French Explorers…