Olympic Games 2024 in Paris: a thousand lives of the Belen, the ship that will carry the Olympic flame to France

This is a ship that has known a thousand lives and as many misadventures, on which the Olympic flame will sail between the port of Piraeus in Greece and the port of Marseille. Where on May 8 she will return to land. The Belen is 128 years old and was built in the shipyards of Nantes in 1896, on the day of the very first modern Olympic Games.

A symbol of longevity that, like the Games, has stood the test of time. Despite wars, shipowner bankruptcies, accidents and other fires, the famous three-masted steel-hulled ship always survived to cross the Mediterranean again, the sea she discovered in her second yachting life.

Mules as the first product

But before falling into the hands of the wealthy English and Irish, the ship saw the light of day after six months of construction. His first mission: connect South America and return via the Caribbean. Leaving the mouth of the Loire in June 1896, Belen reached Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, 50 days later. More than 120 mules are loaded here for transport to the city of Belem do Para in Brazil to pull the country’s trams. But the journey along the South American coast gave the ship its first cold sweats, amid strong winds and looting by customs officers and rescuers who came to put out a fire in the hold.

Six months after leaving Nantes, Belin returned to France the same way he left it: empty. The three-masted ship’s second transatlantic voyage was marked by another torn sail, a long wait in Montevideo, a country in the throes of revolution, and the death of several mules after the ship ran aground in another severe storm. We’ll have to wait until the third campaign, a round trip to Buenos Aires, to ensure Belem doesn’t experience any major setbacks.

This was followed by the opening of the Antilles to the return of sugar, the bankruptcy of one shipowner, the takeover of another, and the opening of regular lines between Nantes and Guyana. In 1914, the Belen left the Loire for the last time to cross not the Atlantic, but the English Channel. It was bought in Southampton by the Duke of Westminster. Here it is now under the British flag.

New life on a yacht

This duke is passionate about yachts and gives the ship a second life. Throughout the First World War, Belém underwent profound changes. Two engines were added, as well as a new staircase, smoking lounge and luxury cabins. The ship was on display in the Mediterranean for six years before being sold to Arthur Ernest Guinness of the Irish brewery founder’s family.

The latter will rename the ship. Belem finished, it’s time for Phantom II. New work later, he began circumnavigating the world with his family and about thirty sailors between 1923 and 1924. She narrowly escaped the Kanto earthquake in Japan in September 1923 and has sailed through almost every water in the world, passing through the port of Piraeus, from where she will depart this Saturday. The following year he discovered the Arctic seas, as well as Marseille. No one on board imagines that he will return to Marseille 100 years later.

Guinness spends almost all of its time on the ship, hosting parties there and showcasing it at major events. But the Second World War began, and the Phantom II was forced to sit in Cowes Harbor, near Southampton, for ten years. It was damaged again, this time by German bombs, before being sold in 1951.

Venice adventure under a new name

Flying the French and British flags, the ship endured a long Italian adventure from 1952, when she joined Venice and became a training ship under the name Giorgio Cini for over twenty years. The end of his career is promised to him, to the one who ends up in a pitiful state in the arsenal of the Doge’s city. This was before a doctor from Grenoble, fascinated by old ships, accidentally stumbled upon it in 1977.

The enthusiast will do everything for Belem to return to his country of origin, with the support of several associations and the Caisses d’Epargne. The deal was concluded for 3.5 million francs. And in August 1979, the ship left Venice for the last time and returned to Brest, where it was greeted in triumph. The Belem Foundation was created and the three-masted ship was restored near the Eiffel Tower before being classified as a historical monument in 1984.

French pride

Unveiled in New York for the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty, the subject of several exhibitions and featured at festivals, the Belem sails to Quebec, Morocco or even London, where it moored on the Thames near the Club de France during the London 2012 Olympics.

128 years after its construction, it confronts its Olympic history in a new way. Over the course of 12 days, around twenty “scouts” will be on board to accompany the Olympic flame on its journey to Marseille, Belem’s next destination, before it continues its vast, unsinkable life.