Vol. 65, No. 4 winter 2020


314 was based on wooden pilings, like almost all of the dockyard buildings. T e building was laid out as a


series of arches and pillars on a regular grid of around 4.5 meters (15 feet) lengthwise.


During construction Vauban modifi ed the supporting structure of the building to incorporate extensive use of vaults in order to improve resistance and to limit the risk of fi re. Most of the work was completed in 1692, but its completion would drag on. In March 1701 Vauban noted that the work was completed “with the exception of the second vault which is only partially fi nished, and without the paving stones, fl oors and windows.” During the work to expand the dockyard, the old rope factory was found to be no longer usable. To maintain activity during the works, an open-air ropewalk was set up in an open space 170 toises (1,200 feet) long along the new city wall. T e Toulon rope factory was the most important example built in the naval dockyards of Louis XIV. Its organization was particularly functional: the hemp plants were received and stored on the ground fl oor of the east pavilion, then combed upstairs. From there they were spun up on the fl oor of the central wing, then stored as a rope yarn in the west pavilion. T ey were fi nally hardened in the bays of the ground fl oor of the central wing and the complete ropes stored in buildings constructed in the immediate vicinity.


Brest


Brest acquired a new rope factory at the same time. Its construction was part of a fi rst phase of work aimed at widening the level ground available on the banks of the Penfeld. T e upstream course of the river was enclosed between steep banks. Once the downstream part of the Penfeld had been developed, the dockyard could only be enlarged through major excavation work to level the banks of the watercourse. T is work was begun in 1686 on the leſt bank and continued for about twenty years, aſt er which a rope factory 180 toises (1,360 feet) long was built, below the naval hospital whose construction began in 1686. T e building had a long gallery punctuated by a central pavilion and two end pavilions of modest dimensions: three spans for the fi rst and two for the


others. T e central pavilion was crowned by a very simple mansard dome. T e hardening workshops placed on the ground fl oor were topped by an upper fl oor for rope yarn and an attic for hemp stores.


Dunkirk


Aſt er Toulon, the dockyard of Dunkirk underwent improvement work, whose overall supervision also was entrusted to Vauban. T is work opened and consolidated the channel through Schurken Bank to permanently connect the port to the open sea. Between 1680 and 1689, fi ve forts built on the foreshore ensured the security of the port and the area facing the sea. Dunkirk now had enhancements making the dockyard sustainable. T e fi rst naval yard established in the early 1670s was indeed of poor quality and poorly laid out. Vauban’s idea, which he expressed in the summer of 1678, was to convert the Ecluse Bleue basin into a harbor basin. Previously an overfl ow intended to clean the port, Vauban considered this basin “a place more suitable for making into one capable of accommodating twenty to twenty fi ve ships...which it is of a very suffi cient capacity, and easy to deepen.” (SHD Vincennes Génie Art. 8 Carton 1 n° 11) To transform this basin, Vauban had a lock built at the entrance capable of accommodating large vessels. (Belidor 1750) T e quays were framed before being clad in masonry. With an area measuring 110 by 250 meters (360 by 820 feet), this basin became the new heart of the dockyard. On its periphery were built the new stores necessary to support the small northern fl eet maintained by Louis XIV. T e rope factory was fi nally located on the quay outside the basin, the mole next to the port being logically reserved for warehousing ships’ stores.


Construction of


aſt er 1686. T ree quarters completed in 1692, its completion dragged on for several years. (ANM B3


the rope factory began shortly 95


f°494) In 1699, the building envelope was completed but the interior paving was not started. Finally, Vauban was able to observe in 1706 that “T e rope factory is very well completed and [it is] one of the most beautiful and convenient in the kingdom.” With a working space 166 toises (1,160 feet) long, the rope


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100