The “Bantry Bay” Boat
Named from Bantry Bay, in County Cork, Ireland, the boat is really of French, not Irish design. The boat is similar to the Captain's gigs used two centuries ago by the navies of France, Britain, Sweden, Russia, Spain, and the USA. This gig, more correctly called an "Admirals’ Barge", is extremely elegant in design, but of fairly simple construction. The boat is 38 ft. in length, 6’9” on the beam, and draws 14 in. of water. She carries 10 oars and has a three masted rig.
During the early winter of 1796, revolutionary France rushed off a naval force to support Irish patriots in their struggle with England. On the 16th of December, 1796 the invasion force with 16,000 men aboard, cleared the French Naval base at Brest. The expedition set sail in the greatest disorder. Unaware that the flagship had modified its course, the 78-meter Séduisant with its 74 cannons headed in a southerly direction together with La Résolue .Once off the Isle of Sein, it encountered a gale which drove it onto Tévennec Rock. Only five hundred out of the one thousand five hundred men on board were rescued.
The fleet now dispersed and leaderless, each commander unsealed his instructions: “Head for Mizzenhead, the Southwest tip of Ireland”. On the 21st of December, just as the fleet was regrouping, a storm blew in making landing impossible. Among the ships that finally reached the rendezvous were the La Redoutable (74 guns) and La Resolue, flagship of the third squadron. La Résolue had been launched in Saint-Malo in 1777 by Guignace, the shipbuilding engineer. A 134 foot long, 34.6 wide frigate, armed with 26 twelve-pounder cannons, six 6-pounders and four thirty-six-pounder carronades. Besides its crew, "La Résolue" also transported 144 troops belonging to the 8th artillery regiment. She was part of the rear guard of the fleet made up of five men-of-war, four frigates, a corvette and six store ships. This division was placed under the orders of Rear-Admiral Joseph Marie Nielly who was himself onboard La Résolue showing his colors- a red pennant flown from the top of the main mast.
Wolfe Tone, the leader of the United Irishmen was aboard the Indomptable, flagship of the second squadron.
As the storm increased in intensity, sixteen French warships tossed and rolled under the lash of a fierce Souwesterly wind and sleet amid mountainous waves off Bantry Bay. On the evening of December 22nd, La Resolue was attempting to enter the south-west channel leading to Berehaven. The storm was still raging with snow squalls and poor visibility. During the night, La Redoutable was driven down on La Resolue .Only the swift action of the officer of the watch saved La Resolue from being cut in two. She was, however badly damaged. She stood off outside Bantry Bay and, on 24th. December, her longboat, commanded by Lieutenant Proteau, was dispatched to locate Admiral Morard de Calles, commander of La Immortalite and request a tow. While attempting this risky trip, the longboat was driven ashore on Bere Island and the crew captured. Lieutenant Proteau was brought to Seafield Park (now Bantry House) to be interrogated by General Dalrymple, the local British military commander. Lieutenant Proteau was subsequently repatriated and returned to the French Navy, becoming the captain of a ship-of-the-line. When the storm cleared, the French longboat was left lying ashore on Bere Island. She was preserved at Bantry House until 1944, when she was presented to the National Museum of Ireland by Mrs. Shellswell-White, the then owner of Bantry House.
So far as is known, the longboat, now occupying pride of place in the National Maritime Museum in Dun Laoghaire, is the only one of her kind. Built as an admiral’s gig in c. 1790, she is the oldest surviving vessel in the French Navy.
The Atlantic Challenge Longboats
Ea ch Atlantic Challenge nation has built at least one replica of this original "Bantry Bay” longboat.
Atlantic Challenge selected this craft as a training vessel because of its simple elegance and demanding teamwork required by its crew. The craft may be constructed with basic woodworking tools and requires no expensive fittings or hardware. The gig is extremely fast off the wind and under ideal conditions has exceeded a speed of 12 knots.
With no original sail information available from the museum longboat, the rig has been adapted from the contemporary French and British craft of this period. The initial Outward Bound Sea School founded by Kurt Hahn and Lawrence Holt (of the Blue
F unnel Line) in 1941 used lug cutters adapted from those of the fishing vessels of the Irish Sea and Bristol Channel. The Atlantic Challenge rig is a direct evolution from these boats, chosen in recognition of the skill, timing and teamwork which such a rig requires, particularly in tacking. The great safety elements of a loose footed sail (which spills a sudden gust or draft, while a boom contains that and the three second time which is all that is needed to strike sail on foremast and main), make these unusually safe craft as training vessels. The halyard, rigged with a burton and bowsed down to a slippery hitch, lends additional safety and does double service as a shroud. Our debt to Outward Bound is direct. Under sail, the yards must be lowered and dipped when tacking, and the halyard transferred to the weather rail as a shroud. The halyards are never cleated, but dory hitched with the bight held live in the hand of a crew member first answerable to his/her mast captain, and second, she/he to the coxswain. As crew rotate stations, we have found a means of giving the youngest novice considerable opportunities for leadership growth and responsibility.
Many persons have offered assistance in developing a good set of working plans to construct replicas of the original craft. The technical lines were first taken and drawn by Cyril Chisholm in 1978, faired with offsets by David Dillion in 1984 with detailed construction details by Paul Kerrigan in the same year. Morton Gøthche lifted and drew a metric plan in 1989. In 1994, Steve Killing completed a comprehensive and complete package of plans for Atlantic Challenge based upon all the earlier work utilizing contemporary marine yacht design software. This set of plans includes 21 large sheets with full size body plans and profiles. In total, the documentation is collectively the work of Irish, American, Danish, French and Canadian maritime documentarists.
A current complete set of plans for the gig is available from Atlantic Challenge and includes the following; Hull Lines, Sail Plan, Construction Plan, Stem and Transom Details, Stem Strap Detail, Seat Detail aft, Oar Details, Spars, Rudder Detail, Large Mast Gate, Outrigger Support, Stern - Lower Profile - Full Size, Stern - Upper Profile - Full Size, Stem - Upper Column Profile - Full Size, Stem - Lower Column Profile - Full Size, Body Plans - 6 sheets - Full Size. Approximate Sheet Size for each drawing - 600mm x 900mm. The plans also include a Table of Offsets Metric/Feet-Inches-Eighths, and fifteen pages of
sketches produced by Paul Kerrigan. There has been a strong desire by all to maintain the integrity of the original hull design and refrain from utilizing modern sail materials or additional “enhancements”.
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