La Belle Poule
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Caliber 12 guns, 1765 frigate. LA BELLE POULE belongs to the class of caliber 12 frigate, that is to say that they wore 12 pounds caliber guns at their battery. She was then commissioned with 26 caliber 12 guns in battery, and 10 caliber 6 guns on the castles. The frigate was built in Bordeaux in 1765 from the plans of engineer GUIGNACE. She became famous in a sea fight on june 17th 1778 with the english frigate ARETHUSE, but she won through thanks to the sacrifice of the lugger LE COUREUR, which escorted her, and which taken issue with the english cutter ALERT had to surrender after an heroic fight. This victorious battle of LA BELLE POULE made her name famous since it has been given to a big frigate in 1834 ( this which brought back to France the ashes of Napoleon), and is still wore nowadays by one of the two schooners of the french national navy school ( L'ETOILE and LA BELLE POULE). |
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But this first BELLE POULE was not so much lucky in 1780, at the time of an unfavourable fight with an english 72 guns vessel, therefore much more powerful and she had to knuckle down to her. This sad event unfortunately too frequent at that time had her capture has a conclusion. The english naval yards drew up a plan of the frigate before transforming her according to the english uses to enrol her in their fleet.
Therefore, this is from the english plan enriched by other sources that J. BOUDRIOT has set up a very complete monograph including 22 plans providing all the details for the model building, but without giving the entire skeleton design.
The B. FRÖLICH model based upon this monograph is at the regular scale of 1/48, and is rigged under established sails. The hull is entirely covered and only a part of the desk skeleton is visible on the castels.
The model shows the frigate LA BELLE POULE ready to drop the anchors. To do so, a staging has been chosen. The frigate brought to, and she is casting her craft. To bring to consists of slackening her pace in coming a cross the wind, and in cancelling its effect in reduced sails. Moreover, in thwarting the orientation of the topsails. The low major sails are raised on their yard with their brails. The topgallants hauled down with their yard on their own top. The maintopsail is braced against and takes the wind by the front, balancing the effect of the wind on the fore topsail, and mizzen topsail. The staysails are hold tight along the relevant mast or in the tops. Only the spanker and a jib are maintained to improve the adjustment.
The crafts are set to the water, one after the other by the crew, using the pulley tackles fitted on the arms of the low yards whose opposite orientation eases the working. Normally, at see, the boats are stowed on their stay on the battery deck, stacked up one into the other, their benches removed. In order to use their launch, alone to be able to carry out an anchor, there is just to set to the water, the gig and the pinnace. So is the gig already moored alongside the board. The pinnace is sprung above the waist, to be set next. At last, the launch is still on its stay, with its benches and will participate to the anchoring in taking the anchor to be dropped, with its anchor buoy.
At port, the first anchor is ready for manoeuvre. It is hung to the davit by heavy block.
The model is in pear tree, ebony, and boxwood with maplewood for the decks. The skeleton of castles is in pear tree. The boards of the hull in pear tree are chamfered edge along the waterline and extended above in ebony. The building of the model took three years spread from 1986 up to 1990, and has needed 2200 hours of work.
The size of the model is as follows :
Length = 138 cm.
High = 112 cm.
Width = 50 cm.