The “Dieu Protège”

In the previous post I cited the joys of serendipity, and they continue.
Travelling down the west coast of Brittany, we were attracted to the old fishing
harbour of Douanenez and Le Port-Muséethere, a boat museum. This is a
museum with a difference - not only are there indoor exhibits of everything from
coracles to twentieth-century fishing vessels, but outside, in the harbour, is
moored an extraordinary collection of boats that have been painstakingly
collected and restored, and around which you can wander at will, clambering up
and down ladders, trying out the wheelhouses. Serendipity arose when I
discovered that, among these boats is Le Dieu Protège, a *gabare
sablière -*a sand transport.To the north of Douanenez is Brest, a major port for centuries and the focus
of extreme conflict during the Second World War. Used as one of the extensive
U-Boat bases and a harbour for German battleships, including the Scharnhorst and
the Gneisenau, Brest was the target of constant allied bombing raids. In 1944
the battle for its liberation was vicious, and by the end of the war literally
only a handful of buildings remained standing in the city, including significant
sections of the mediaeval harbour fortifications. The images below show Brest
harbour before and after the war.

The post-war reconstruction of Brest took years and required huge volumes of concrete that,
in turn, demanded huge volumes of sand. Le Dieu Protège (“God
Protects”) was built in 1951 specifically to excavate, transport, and deliver
sand for the rebuilding of the city - the sand trade was thriving. It seems that
the first owner had proposed various names to the authorities, all of them
refused because of other boats already claiming them. He came up with the name
in memory of a small boat sunk in the treacherous coastal waters after
delivering the church bell to the island of Ouissant (presumably the protection extended only to the bell…). The boat is 23 meters long, has a capacity of
150 tons of sand, and has double wooden hulls to protect against the abrasive
effects of its cargo and the stresses of large volumes of sand being dropped
into its hold. It was equipped with sails (below, right), but was motorised and was fitted with
a substantial mechanical bucket grab (named in French, *le crapaud -*the
toad).

Until this innovation, sand extraction had taken place by beaching the
boat and loading the cargo by hand and shovel, assisted, if on the beach, by
horses, as shown in the delightful model at the museum (above, left). The bucket could
hold 70 cubic meters of sand at a time, and around two hundred bucketsful of
sand needed to be hauled up to fill the hold. [Although quoted from the museum documentation, the bucket capacity seems excessive and the numbers are inconsistent - see comment below]. The remaining requirement was a
water pump to remove the 15 tons of water that drained out of every cargo. Four
anchors would secure her to an offshore sandbank while she worked.

Le Dieu Protège’s working life continued for thirty-five years - her
last job was dredging the local harbours. She was purchased by the museum in1990
and restored - and, as the photo below shows, she is being further restored
today.

Go down the steep ladder to the hold today (now empty of sand), and there are
fascinating movies being shown of the sablière at work in her heyday. I
have taken the liberty of extracting a few still images from these:

My thanks to a superb museum - http://www.port-musee.org. There’s much,
much more to see than Le Dieu Protège, so, if you’re in Brittany, take
time for a visit.

And I’ll leave you with a picture of le sablier at the helm of a
gabare sablière  - it’s a great place for kids. SIGNATURE

Comments

Howard Allen (2009-09-27):

Interesting post!
I wonder if some of the numbers are correct, though: the statement that “the bucket could hold 70 cubic metres of sand at a time” seems a bit generous, looking at the photos of the bucket, and doing the math.
Cheers

Sandglass (2009-09-27):

Howard - thanks for the comment. On thinking about it, you have a good point, 70 cubic meters seems significantly more than the apparent capacity of the bucket. I checked the brochure from the museum and that is the number they quote, but I agree, it doesn’t seem quite right!

Originally published at: https://throughthesandglass.typepad.com/through_the_sandglass/2009/09/the-dieu-protège.html