Dipping a Toe into History

Festinas progress home is somewhat erratic . Our sunny idyll in the Morbihan was eventually disturbed by rain ( a completely alien concept!) so we sailed 40 miles North to the lovely sandy archipelago of Glenans which nestles under the overhanging Penmarch peninsula. It is another wonderful sailing area with loads of places to anchor and 5 or 6 interesting ports within 15 miles sail. We chose to anchor behind the I du Loch and spent a couple of days exploring in the canoe, and then with more rain on the way sailed another 40 miles to Brest.
I can never pass these waters without thinking back to the late 18th and early 19th century when the Royal Navy blockaded Brest for years at a time. It is a rock and shoal bestrewn lee shore with monstrous tides and frequent fogs , constantly hammered by westerly gales , and yet they maintained station there without the benefit of buoys or lighthouses ,forecasts , radios, radar or GPS . They didn’t have craft that could beat to windward in almost any weather and they certainly couldn’t turn on an engine to get out of a scrape. One day I would like to study the log books of the time , and then come back and relive some of their exploits , albeit with the opt out of modern navigation aids and the iron topsail if , as seems likely ,my seamanship does not match that of our forebears.
For now , however we went one step further than our illustrious ancestors. At dawn they would sail to the Avant Goulet , and just out of gunshot would report on the state of preparation of the French fleet lying in Brest Roads. One grey day we took our courage in our hands and sailed through the Goulet de Brest , that narrow channel between cliffs that made this naval base so impregnable thoughout many wars. Nobody fired on us despite our flag and we were intrigued to see that the Southern inner end of the Goulet is called Pte des Espagnols , so anchored in its lee and went ashore to explore. It seems that in 1594 a Spanish fleet landed on the beach at Camaret ( outside the Goulet) and entrenched themselves on the peninsula . They were outnumbered 10 to one by a combined English and French force , but held out for a month . Whilst they completely failed in their bid to oust the Huegenot Henri IV in favour of the Catholic Confederations favoured heir , they did last long enough for their deeds to be commemorated forever in the naming of the point where they made their desperate last stand.
Just in case , like me , your history never got much beyond “1066 and all that” , Henri IV is not to be confused with our Henry IV ( part one or part 2! ) . This French king was in my view “a good thing” in that he inherited a civil war between Catholics and Protestants and ended it by the simple expedience of converting to Catholicism and simultaneously declaring the Edict of Nantes which declared that Protestants will be tolerated. Our Elizabeth 1st was furious at his conversion ( she had bankrolled the English troops at the Pte des Espagnols ) , but Henri is alleged to have declared with a gallic shrug – “Paris is worth a Mass!” That’s what I call pragmatic politics!
Nowadays the peninsula tells of more recent conflicts. 100 years after Henri , the ubiquitous Vauban built his elegant fortifications which are now somewhat spoilt by the horrid concrete constructions of World War 2 . All are abandoned now but over the water lie the sleek grey shapes of French warships , at anchor as ever , but held there not by a blockading fleet , but peaceful times . Long may they continue.
But how much longer can we string out our adventure? Yesterday we dribbled round to L’Aberwrach and our first marina since Bryony left us two weeks ago. We think we are going to set off east again this afternoon and just see where the wind blows us .

One Comments

  1. Had a feeling the call of the Bursledon Regatta would come into force – see you there?? Glad you discovered the charms of the Morbihan. John Noe/La Nef is there at present.

    Safe return – whenever Peter

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