Sunday, March 13, 2011

Douarnenez, 1912. Photos of Charles L'Hermitage

Douarnenez Harbor c. 1912

bateaux dans le port à marée basse



voilier dans le port



bord de mer avec voilier



bateaux dans le port



vue du port



vue du port



vue du port



Caulking seams, other repair
s




calfats bretons réparant une coque de bateau



calfats bretons réparant la coque d'un bateau



calfat breton sur la plage



calfats bretons réparant la coque d'un bateau



calfats bretons réparant la coque d'un bateau



calfats bretons nettoyant la coque d'un bateau




calfat breton nettoyant la coque d'un bateau



calfats bretons nettoyant la coque d'un bateau



calfats bretons nettoyant la coque d'un bateau



calfats bretons nettoyant la coque d'un bateau



calfat breton brûlant du goudron



calfat breton réparant un bateau



calfats bretons réparant la coque d'un bateau



calfat breton réparant un bateau



calfat breton nettoyant une voile



calfats bretons



calfats bretons réparant un bateau



calfat breton immatriculant un bateau



calfats bretons brûlant du goudron



calfat breton réparant la coque d'un bateau



calfat breton réparant la coque d'un bateau



calfats bretons réparant un bateau



calfat breton nettoyant la coque d'une barque



calfat breton nettoyant la coque d'une barque




Bretagnie




Paysage de Bretagne



Douarnenez : breton dans son intérieur


Auteur :
Lhermitte Charles Augustin (1881-1945)
all photos


(C) Droits réservés
Crédit photographique :
(C) RMN (Musée d'Orsay) / Hervé Lewandowski
Période :
20e siècle
Date :
1912
Localisation :
Paris, musée d'Orsay







Charles Augustin Lhermitte, French, (1881-1945) was the son of the realist painter Lèon Lhermitte (1844-1925) and worked in photography for about twenty years, stopping in the 1920s.

Although a member of the pictorialist movement, he remained somewhat of a novice to the technique, and was probably influenced more by naturalism, which he inherited from his father, than by symbolism and impressionism. His work is generally characterized by a clear definition rather than the soft focus. (courtesy Wikipedia)

I found this archive and several others via a facebook friend, Pierre-Yves Decosse. Pierre seems to share my love of maritime history and particularly the smaller inshore craft of the local fisherman. The portion of the L'Hermitte archive presented here is minuscule, the archive runs to 500 images.

Douarnenez is still an active fishing port and host to a traditional maritime festival every other
year.

Thanks to the folks at RMN

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Whaleboats for the CW Morgan




A quick post to announce a new weblog I am hosting at the behest of John Brady, lead boatbuilder at the Workshop on the Water, the very active boatshop at the Independence Seaport Museum. Wow and Rocking the Boat in NYC have been commissioned to build a whaleboat each, with the goal of fitting out the restoration of the CW Morgan at Mystic Seaport in grand style. These boats will be built in a traditional manner, a combination of lapstrake and carvel planking, lap for the top few strakes and carvel lower down. Originally built all lapstrake, traditional builders and the whalermen themselves came to prefer the quieter carvel planked construction because it was less likely to alert a whale to it's impending demise. The boats will allow for 5 or 6 crew with rowing stations and gunter rigged sailplans. After their completion, they may be allowed to play a bit before joining the Morgan for her first voyage, to New Bedford, MA.
John will be leading the team in Philadelphia. The lofting is complete and we should have a post by Wendy Byar soon on that. The plan is next to build two sets of molds for the boat in Philadelphia with one set being sent to NY. That work is expected to commence in a week or two.
The build in NY will be led by Geoff McKonly, late of Philadelphia where he was the head of the Philadelphia Wooden Boat Factory for many years. Other institutions may also get involved with builds of their own.
This should be a rewarding couple of builds to follow, and I hope to keep it up at least to the first voyage of the Morgan to New Bedford, we will see what happens after that. I hope you'll stay with us.

And please will some one of my loyal readers have the grace to christen the new weblog, not with champagne but a comment?

Here's the link, Whaleboats for the CW Morgan

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Largesse at Mystic Seaport

Rigging






Blocks





Boats









Figureheads



Motors






While working through Carl Swebilus' massive thread on the
WoodenBoat Forum, there was a lot of compelling material I had to pass by in order to stay focused on the story of the ongoing work of restoring the CW Morgan (see my previous posts). Carl's material is very rich, and lifts the veil for those of us not privy to 'behind the scenes' at this great resource. One of the most striking glimpses was a view into the sheer immensity of the collection and stores at Mystic Seaport. I felt compelled to share a bit of that here. As the work on the Morgan continues towards a 2012 splash, I will likely update the progress. And I will soon have a first post for the building project on the whaleboats for the Morgan.