belem's history
1897-1899, third to fifth voyage
1897-1898, third voyage
The old captain Dolu took command for this third campaign (Rioual being henceforth appointed to the Denis-Crouan).
The boat made its first stopover in Cardiff to get a load of Welsh coal for Buenos-Aires.
After unloading coal and cleaning of the hold in Buenos-Aires, the Belem headed for the third time towards Belém, loaded once again with she-mules, sheeps and general goods. She would return to Nantes with a full load of Brazilian cocoa.
A veteran of the Crouan’s company, Captain Dolu, ally of my family, relieved a tired Mr Rioual and led to Cardiff the Belem, where she took in this port a load of Welsh coal for Buenos Aires, where it arrived on December 11th, 1897, counting sixty seven days in sea. After thirty seven days used in this port to unload coal and to embark forty she-mules and as many sheeps as well as different goods for Pará, she left the estuary of Plata on January 19th, 1898, made a crossing without incidents and a fast expedition for Belem, she took there her a full load of cocoa for Nantes where she arrived forty five days after her departure from the Amazon. [Louis Lacroix, 1945].
1898, fourth voyage
This fourth journey looks like the third one but without a stopover to Cardiff.
Captain Dolu did in Nantes only a short stay of half-month, resuming sea on May 18th for Buenos Aires. On July 1st, she was in this port, left it the 20th with a complete load of general goods, two dozens of sheeps selected for Pará, and six she-mules.
A violent “pampero” which blew two days after her departure made her lose two she-mules and, without undergoing other damages, it arrived thirty days later at destination, took there her full load of cocoa for Nantes and returned in the Loire forty five days later, on October 21st, 1898, finding along the way big bad southwest weather that tired the vessel.
On November 14th, charged with various goods for Pará, she waited on Saint-Nazaire’s natural harbour of favorable winds to disembogue from the estuary when she has been hit at anchorage by the English steamer Mersario, of Glasgow, which made her important damages.
She had to return in Penhoët’s dock to repair, going out again only on December 1st (…) [Louis Lacroix, 1945].
1898-1899, fifth voyage
Having been hit while anchored in front of Saint-Nazaire by an English steamship on November 14th, the Belem was immobilized 15 days for repairs of the damages.
Always commanded by the captain Dolu, she left directly for Belém on December 1st. She headed for the first time towards Martinique where she took a load of sugar and tafia for Nantes.
Having arrived at the retiring age, Captain Dolu, third commander of the Belem, settled definitively in Nantes.
She had to return in Penhoët’s dock for repairs, going out again only on December 1st for Pará which she reached in forty five days, leaving in the ballast for Martinique on February 8th, 1899. She cast anchor on the plateau of the lead lines of Saint-Pierre by a depth of twenty eight meters on March 1st, undergoing a quarantine of three days as coming from a contaminated country. The war had burst between the United States and Spain, obliging her to collect in the natural harbour of Fort-de-France what was left from her routed fleet and the Belem, who had to load at Pointe Simon, was not able to to approach until March 8; the Simon’s factory put more than a month to load him her with sugar and with tafia.
On May 28th, 1899, the captain Dolu moored his vessel to Les Salorges of Nantes and settled on ground, after a well filled life, full of honor and work, and thirty years of navigation. [Louis Lacroix, 1945].