Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
able to measure up well against the English
and Dutch, but which drew heavily on their
resources. This provides us with a better
understanding of the importance of hemp to
the politics of Colbert, the finance minister
under Louis XIV (1665-1683) and how this
in turn affected hemp production.
In effect, we must draw the reader's
attention to the following figures in order to
understand better what we present below.
An average-sized ship (Fig. 2.2) would use
between 60 and 80 t of hemp as rope
and 6-8 t in sails per year. This represents a
tonnage of between 70 and 90 t.
It was Colbert's talent as a strategist that
allowed him to recognize the need for indus-
trial methods to help arm and equip the King's
ships. He therefore modernized the existing
arsenals in Brest and Toulon, while creating
a new arsenal at Rochefort sur Mer (Charente
Maritime). He attached a rope factory to the
latter. This was to become famous and still
exists today in the form of a museum, the
Corderie Royale.
Created in 1666 by Colbert, it came into
service in 1670 and remained operational
until approximately 1865. During the libera-
tion it was destroyed by the Germans, who
had occupied it throughout the 1939-1945
war. It was only reconstructed in 1970 and
for the past 20 years has provided visitors
with an exact idea of what industrial rope
making in the 18th and 19th centuries looked
like. This factory equipped some 400 boats
and, most notably, kitted out the frigate
Hermione
that was to take the Marquis de La
Fayette to the aid of the American insurgents
in 1780.
19
The arsenals of Brest and Marseille also
boast similar rope factories, where thousands of
metres of rope and sails would have been
produced to meet the needs of the fleet of battle
ships.
This work has set out to demonstrate the
constant relation between the ports of Ponant,
Brest, La Rochelle, the arsenal of Rochefort
and the minister, Colbert, who was responsible
for supplying hemp to these Atlantic ports.
We know this from the correspondence he
conducted with maritime officials. Everything
was required to be produced in France, with a
bare minimum being purchased abroad when
unavoidable. This was the case, for example,
for the resin required to tar the cables.
Wherever possible, manufacturing plants
were established with the aid of foreign
specialists who were only employed for the
time necessary for them to pass on their
knowledge.
Colbert and his son, Seignelay, were kept
abreast of everything and supervised the oper-
ation in great detail month by month.
Every year, the same question presented
itself: where shall we source the hemp from?
The Atlantic supports were supplied from
Brittany, from the Auvergne and from the
valley of the Garonne. Hemp from Alsace and
from the Rhone valley was called upon to sup-
ply the arsenal of Toulon. In all this, we can see
Colbert's incessant work with the port officials,
ensuring that they found the necessary hemp
and negotiated as low a price as possible.
There were problems, however. The product
became rare, swindlers supplied bundles of
Fig. 2.2.
A fine example of a sailing ship
(photograph taken in 2000).
