Nautical Research Journal 315


8. T e two rope factories in Brest at the turn of the twentieth century before the bombings of the last war. Private collection, courtesy of AAMM.


factory had a long gallery on the ground fl oor framed by two sloping pavilions. Its attic was punctuated by 109 skylights corresponding to the windows on the ground fl oor. T e whole harmonized very well with the series of twenty-two ship stores built before 1692 on the quay opposite. Its construction completed the series of rope works built during the reign of Louis XIV. T e King’s dockyards all had been provided with solidly-built rope works, whose monumentality derived its elegance from the sober regularity propounded by Colbert in 1674.


Other royal rope factories


To be complete, we must mention Lorient, the port of the Compagnie des Indes until 1770, and Marseille, the galley fl eet’s dockyard until the middle of the eighteenth century. In Lorient, a 1,000-foot rope factory was built in 1677 along the wall of the Compagnie des Indes’ compound. In Marseille, the rope factory was completed around 1690. It was 200 toises (1,400 feet) long and its position close to the slipways and its layout were not unlike that at Toulon.


T e work of Choquet de Lindu at Brest


During the eighteenth century, only Brest saw a signifi cant change in its port


facilities. T e other


dockyards certainly benefi tted from improvement or enhancement work, but these were less extensive than at Brest.


T e port expanded along the River Penfeld due to the laborious work of leveling its steep shores, work accomplished in particular by convicts aſt er their arrival in the port of Ponant. T e numerous fi res which aff ected the dockyard also led to the renewal of


the buildings devoured by the fl ames.


T ese numerous additions were the work of Antoine Choquet de Lindu, who leſt an architectural mark on the Brest landscape resulting from a term in offi ce there that spanned nearly forty years.


T e Troulan rope factory burned down on January 30, 1744, as a result of carelessness (the accounting offi ce’s chimney caught fi re and, due to a watchman’s negligence, this expanded to damage the neighboring general store). To replace the rope factory, a new building was constructed above the rope factory of 1706. (T e two buildings then became the high


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