FRENCH CLIPPER’S FATE

Southland Times, Issue 21896, 23 December 1932, Page 12

FRENCH CLIPPER’S FATE

FORMER PRIDE OF FLEET. No bids were made at a recent auction at Havre, France, at which a threemasted vessel, which was once the pride of the French merchant fleet, the General de Sonis, was offered with a reserve of only IOOOfr. (about £11). She is the last of the large sailing merchant fleet under the French flag. Although still fit for service, she is not likely so sail the high seas again, but may become a mere pontoon. Launched at Nantes in 1901, less than a year ago the General de Sonis was plying between Havre and Haiti with cargoes of campeachy wood. There then came a day when the crew could not be paid, and the vessel was seized. But no one will buy her. Captain Hemet, who commended the General de Sonis until 1906, was a sad onlooker at the auction. “She was a fine craft,” he said. “When she was built speed was needed for competition with British merchantmen, and the constructors were anxious to win a bonus offered by the French Government. So we made our maiden voyage with a cargo of ballast. “One of the fastest voyages was from Cape Town, which we left on May 27, 1902, to Hobart, Tasmania, where we arrived on June 22—6160 miles in 24 days. The General de Sonis is 328 ft long and carries more than 3600 square yards of canvas.